And God is not only love. In the Old Testament times much meaning was attached to names. Often, they'd use a play on words to take a name and use it to convey a quality of that person. God revealed various dimensions of His persona through the use of many and varied names for The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit in the Bible.
The most comprehensive list of His Names I could find online is here: 900+ Titles and Names of God. I admire that they have scripture references on many.
Yes, our God is Good, He is Love, He is Abba Father, He is Savior, He is Friend, He is Mediator. Many fuzzy, warm, wonderful things. But the part that is being watered down every where you look now days to "tickle the ears" of those who prefer to live in sin is that He is also a Holy God that cannot even look upon sin. He is also the Righteous Judge who will call every living soul to account for their life.
God does have nothing but mercy to give to all who admit they are sinners and repent of it, accept His Son's gift of salvation paid on the cross for their sins and turn from living a lifestyle of sin. Those who ignore this invitation or refuse it, will find themselves told on the great judgement day, "23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."Matthew 7 - KJV
Very profound! Something I need to hear often! God IS love!! And I need him mightily in my life right now. Thank you for this Barbara!!
ReplyDeleteI praise God that my feeble attempt to lay the Truth out before men ministered to your heart when you needed it!! May it touch others as well.
DeleteSo true, Barbara, that God is love and so much more. Sometimes when I'm praying, I'll do an A/Z of God's character and attributes A-awesome, almighty, B-beautiful, C-creator, comforter, compassionate, etc. That was interesting with the 900 plus titles and names for him. I can see that.
ReplyDeletebetty
It's a great way to praise and worship Him!
DeleteI remember the day I realized the equality of God. As much as he is love, he is equally holy, equally just, equally righteous. The part of me that will never love God struggles against that truth. But his spirit in me rejoices in his equality. He is truly a God that can be trusted because he is holy, just and love. Not lacking in any, and never more of one than the others. God bless you today!
ReplyDeleteHis character is Truly Balanced!
DeleteAnd refusing that invitation is the only unpardonable sin.
ReplyDeleteNine hundred? That's a lot.
Amen. I will highlight that in another post further along. Isn't it beautiful how God went to such great lengths to reveal so much of Himself to us?!
DeleteThe best name of all is "Father."
ReplyDeleteIt really is such a blessing to have a Heavenly Father like Him!
DeleteLove One Another.
ReplyDeleteThat was last week's post. Yes, Christ did instruct his followers to "love one another as I have loved you." Unfortunately, all too often the world says if you love me you will say anything I want to do is okay. But that isn't real love, Godly love. Real love says "I love you and I don't want to see you suffer the consequences of doing that. Please stop. I'll help you if I can."
Delete"such great lengths to reveal so much..." Beautiful! Incredible that there are those who just can't get it or tweak it to fit their own agendas.
ReplyDeleteIt truly is beautiful the lengths God went to, to reveal Himself to us!! It's extremely hard to understand why so many spurn His Word.
DeleteGod above- Father in Heaven- Alpha and the Omega. Just calling out to HIM brings comfort.
ReplyDeleteAmen!
DeleteAwesome and frightening at the same time. I build my life around this verse (among others) and keep it very simple. I never want to hear the words, "Depart from me I never knew you." Far too many people get caught up in the busyness of life and build a ministry all at the expense of getting to know Him.
ReplyDeleteAnd therein lies another misconception, that church, religion, doctrine, etc. can change men's lives or save their souls when in truth it is a relationship with God through Christ Jesus that saves and brings about change.
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