“Take notice, therefor, of the kindness and severity of God.“
Why do we insist on pushing only one attribute of God over the other? Some of us are obsessed with not offending anyone… So, we only talk about the love of God. Continuously quoting 1 John which says, “ Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love”.
On the other hand, Jesus said be “Salty”… because we are the salt of the earth… So, some of us think that means we must gag people with our saltiness, self-righteously offending everyone who disagrees with us.
Unfortunately, both approaches are incomplete. The kindness and severity of God go hand in hand. We should be consistently loving of sinners, but unapologetically salty toward their sin. The confusion develops because these days anything short of unbridled agreement and acceptance is labeled as hate.
But this verse says God is more complicated than that. He is your loving heavenly Father, and a terrifying omnipotent Judge. He is kind and severe, loving and holy. In fact, it is His holiness that demanded the horrific sacrifice of His Son which demonstrated His incomprehensible love for us. That was the massive cost required to allow us to spend eternity with Him.
If in every Sunday morning sermon you get beat up, and never hear about the love of God, then your Pastor has missed a defining attribute of God. If after each sermon you leave feeling like the sin you tolerate is acceptable, then you’re not being taught about the non-compromising, omniscient Judge whose clear demand is perfection… and the problem is, God is both.
So, the question is do you worship the God of the Bible, or have you created your own little idol that comfortably fits your worldview? Are you salty in the right amount? Do people choke on your self-proclaimed righteousness, or is your life drab, tasteless, and without godliness? Our mission is to make disciples. Sometimes that requires a hug, sometimes a reprimand.
The Gospel is clear. God is a King, and a Father. We are to approach Him with faith and obedience. Never ignore sin. Never doubt the power of the cross… Embrace the attributes of God that make you uncomfortable. He didn’t die to make us comfortable; He died to make us holy.
“His love is holy love, not soft indulgence.” - A. W. Tozer
No comments:
Post a Comment