Monday, March 15, 2022 Some material taken from Fear This!
God is love. 1 John 4:8
But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Psalm 86:15
The Love of God
This week I am in Oklahoma taking care of my 20-month-old granddaughter. I am loving every second of course - even the hard ones. Sometimes I come to visit and I just get to be Nana. I don’t have to do all the hard things she doesn’t like - such as brushing her teeth and giving her medicine. Her mom and dad take care of those things when they are there. But when they are gone and they trust me with her care, I have to do all the things including the ones she doesn’t like. I have to do them because they trust me to, but also because I love her and if I love her, then I will make sure that I do the things that are good for her like brushing her teeth. Any grownup knows I am not just being mean, although I am sure she thinks so in those moments. In fact, I sense she feels betrayed.
We have a Heavenly Father who loves us with even more love than we could ever imagine. He loves us enough not to leave us in sin, and to make us do the hard things we don’t want to, like discipline. His very nature is love and that love for us is what brings redemption, freedom, forgiveness, and salvation. It also brings discipline.
It is not just God’s nature to love - God is love. He always has been and always will be, and this is the only way we ever want to think about Him. We don’t like to think about the wrath of God, only the loving side. God’s nature is love, not wrath. But He is wrathful in the face of sin. He cannot look on it, and before sin ever entered this world, God was not wrathful. He is just, so there is no way He can let sin go unpunished, He is never wrathful just because He can be, because He can anytime He wants to be! He is God! but He chooses love even when we deserve wrath.
It is not true to think of God as wrathful all the time, just waiting for us to make a mistake so He can punish us. That is not who the God of the Bible is. A malicious and spiteful God would not be born as a man and allow himself to be beaten, bruised, and crucified for the sins of a rebellious and crooked people.
However, a holy and just God who is in his very nature love would most certainly be willing to sacrifice his one and only Son to redeem the sins of his beloved people, despite their rebellion and ungratefulness.
Our Holy God can do anything He wants to do. He is all powerful, yet He doesn’t always use His Holy power to discipline us, even when we deserve it. He is a holy and He did pour out his wrath not because He is wrathful, but because out of his holiness and justice, sin requires God’s punishment. But out of God’s love and grace, He took the punishment for us so that we would not have to.
