Looking At The Two Sides Of God

The religious experts in Jeremiah's day were misrepresenting God by prophesying, "the delusions of their own minds" (Jeremiah 23:26 NIV) and leading people astray with their lies (Jeremiah 23:32). Due to their dishonesty, the people did not know the true nature of God.

Today, there are people who portray God as angry, vengeful, and eager to punish people for every minor offense. However, God describes Himself as "merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth" (Exodus 34:6).

On the other side of the coin, some folks paint a picture of a loving God who is too kind to punish any kind of wrongdoing. However, God describes Himself as One who exercises judgment and righteousness (Jeremiah 9:24; Romans 2:1-5).

The truism then, is the fact that to be a truly loving God, He must also be absolutely just.

The Bible portrays God as both a just Judge and a loving Father, thus if we emphasize one characteristic over the other, we paint a false picture of God.

The most important thing we can know about God and proclaim to the world, is that God loves us and does not want to punish people (John 3:16-17; 2 Peter 3:9). Rather, He wants them to confess Christ as His Son (Acts 8:36-37), and then render obedience to the gospel plan of salvation, so that He can forgive (1 John 1:9; cf. Hebrews 10:16-17).

Dear reader, if you haven't already rendered obedience to God's gospel plan, please do so at your earliest opportunity (2 Corinthians 6:1-2).

 —Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets