May 6, 2010

God Should Make You Both Afraid and Unafraid at the Same TimeDeuteronomy 4:26-31 (NLT)

“Today I call on heaven and earth as witnesses against you. If you break my covenant, you will quickly disappear from the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy. . . . For the LORD will scatter you among the nations, where only a few of you will survive. . . . 29 But from there you will search again for the LORD your God. And if you search for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him. . . . 31 For the LORD your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon you or destroy you or forget the solemn covenant he made with your ancestors. Deuteronomy 4:26-31 (NLT)

Pastor’s Blog

There are two very wrong and dangerous ways to view God. One is to view God only as a kindly old Gent who lets you do whatever you want and is waiting to serve your wishes at your beck and call. This is dangerous, first because this god does not exist and, second, because, doing whatever you want can kill you and probably will. Third, the real God, whose love is real love, does not permit disobedience without correction. He loves you too much for that.

The other very wrong and dangerous view of God is view God only as an angry, quid pro quo god. In this view God is mad at you because you never do life right and he’ll punish you for not being good enough. Yes, he’ll do good things for you, but only when you’ve earned it. This view is dangerous, first because this god does not exist, second because living under a cloud of judgment will suck the life out of you as you spend your life trying to appease a Satan inspired view of God. Third, the real God has made a covenantal promise to love you no matter what. Yes, there will be consequences for your disobedience, but He will pursue you until the end of time never ceasing His efforts to woo you back.

God is consummately loving and holy, merciful and a consuming fire, forgiving yet with impossibly high standards, to be loved and feared all at the same time. Never ever take God for granted. Fear Him, yet never ever be afraid to come to him. Don’t be afraid. These are not contradictions, rather “both ands”. Is this your God?