Contradiction?
Posted in God's Character, Misti's Posts 0 comments
The Lord said, I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry I have made them. Genesis 6:7
For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16
Confused? Looking at these two passages, one from the Old Testament, the other from the New, it seems difficult to reconcile the very different images of God that are portrayed. How could a loving God who came to earth as a man, healed the sick, raised the dead, and died for us because of love be the same God who burned the sons of Aaron, made the Israelites wander 40 years in the desert, and placed them in captivity again and again?
We talk so much about God's love for us. We experience His love personally in our lives in the forms of peace and joy that transcend circumstances. As we grow to know Him more, our capacity to understand His love also grows. In reality, all this talk of God's love is very true: God did love the world so much that He sent Jesus to take our place and conquer the grave. He wants us to love Him in return and to desire to spend eternity with Him.
In the modern church, we spend a lot of time talking about God's love. And it's no wonder we do: so many people are wandering without a hope, dying for someone to love them and accept them regardless of what they've done. As Christians, it is our duty and privilege to offer this to them. Sometimes, though, I think we miss so much of God's character; to our ultimate detriment.
God is love. 1 Corinthians 13 gives us a perfect picture of that. But God is also just. He is righteous. He is holy--set apart. He is sovereign and He is Lord of our lives. God cannot abide sin. Like a High Judge, He must proclaim judgement on sin in our lives. 'Jesus sacrifice takes the punishment for our sins,' you say. This does not absolve us and make it okay to do whatever, whenever.
Any woman who has read Proverbs 31 knows how high God's expectations are. Any married person who has read Ephesians 5:22-30 knows that God's calling is beyond our capability. 'Wives, be subject to your own husbands as to the Lord." v22 "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself up for her." v25 God's standards are impossible to live up to by our own strength. Trying to live by these rules by ourselves only leads to sin. Which is why we need Him. After all, what is sin but failing to live inside a relationship with the Lord?
Culture has deceived us into believing we are the masters of our own destiny. It has bestowed rights upon us that are a complete illusion. "You're worth it." "You deserve a break today." The more we buy into this, the more selfish we become. As parents, we fail to do our best at raising our children because it gets in the way of our dreams. As spouses, we refuse to accept our God-given roles because they are "anti-equality". As Christians, we fail to look to Christ as our example because He had no possessions, no ambition to power and He didn't care what the affluent people thought of Him.
I read an article today chronicling the top 5 reasons why Jesus would be fired from a youth minister's position in church. Check out the article on page 11. The first and most important, according to the author's view, is that He would shrink the group before He would grow it. I agree very strongly with this. I believe that Christ would shrink His youth group because He would challenge the status quo. He would 'burn away the chaff', so to speak, of those whose hearts were not in it. He would push those committed few to new levels of devotion to God. He would anger some people by calling out their 'lukewarm' tendencies.
God has great things in store for us because of His love. Great things don't come easy, though. We have to accept His great expectations of us in order to capture His best plan for our lives.
For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16
Confused? Looking at these two passages, one from the Old Testament, the other from the New, it seems difficult to reconcile the very different images of God that are portrayed. How could a loving God who came to earth as a man, healed the sick, raised the dead, and died for us because of love be the same God who burned the sons of Aaron, made the Israelites wander 40 years in the desert, and placed them in captivity again and again?
We talk so much about God's love for us. We experience His love personally in our lives in the forms of peace and joy that transcend circumstances. As we grow to know Him more, our capacity to understand His love also grows. In reality, all this talk of God's love is very true: God did love the world so much that He sent Jesus to take our place and conquer the grave. He wants us to love Him in return and to desire to spend eternity with Him.
In the modern church, we spend a lot of time talking about God's love. And it's no wonder we do: so many people are wandering without a hope, dying for someone to love them and accept them regardless of what they've done. As Christians, it is our duty and privilege to offer this to them. Sometimes, though, I think we miss so much of God's character; to our ultimate detriment.
God is love. 1 Corinthians 13 gives us a perfect picture of that. But God is also just. He is righteous. He is holy--set apart. He is sovereign and He is Lord of our lives. God cannot abide sin. Like a High Judge, He must proclaim judgement on sin in our lives. 'Jesus sacrifice takes the punishment for our sins,' you say. This does not absolve us and make it okay to do whatever, whenever.
Any woman who has read Proverbs 31 knows how high God's expectations are. Any married person who has read Ephesians 5:22-30 knows that God's calling is beyond our capability. 'Wives, be subject to your own husbands as to the Lord." v22 "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself up for her." v25 God's standards are impossible to live up to by our own strength. Trying to live by these rules by ourselves only leads to sin. Which is why we need Him. After all, what is sin but failing to live inside a relationship with the Lord?
Culture has deceived us into believing we are the masters of our own destiny. It has bestowed rights upon us that are a complete illusion. "You're worth it." "You deserve a break today." The more we buy into this, the more selfish we become. As parents, we fail to do our best at raising our children because it gets in the way of our dreams. As spouses, we refuse to accept our God-given roles because they are "anti-equality". As Christians, we fail to look to Christ as our example because He had no possessions, no ambition to power and He didn't care what the affluent people thought of Him.
I read an article today chronicling the top 5 reasons why Jesus would be fired from a youth minister's position in church. Check out the article on page 11. The first and most important, according to the author's view, is that He would shrink the group before He would grow it. I agree very strongly with this. I believe that Christ would shrink His youth group because He would challenge the status quo. He would 'burn away the chaff', so to speak, of those whose hearts were not in it. He would push those committed few to new levels of devotion to God. He would anger some people by calling out their 'lukewarm' tendencies.
God has great things in store for us because of His love. Great things don't come easy, though. We have to accept His great expectations of us in order to capture His best plan for our lives.
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