The slices on this pizza correspond to the attributes of God. The most popular, of course, is love.
But God’s attributes also include holiness, justice and righteousness. We all have fallen so far short on any of those three that we deserve to be doomed.
That’s why I am glad that love is the most vital attribute of God.
Because think of what we deserve. We deserve justice and falling under wrath because of our rebellion. Thankfully, God’s love in Christ frees us from judgment. Jesus paid the debt we each owe for our rebellion. Indeed, our rebellion carries a high price. It’s higher than the national debt, which is $27 trillion as I write this. Yet for each of us who believes, we know that Jesus paid the price. God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.
Forgiven, we are free to enjoy a life that is on the safe side of God’s holiness, justice, and righteousness.
But there’s a danger nowadays. All God’s attributes on the pie together make up what he is like. But people try to cut God up into slices. And when they do, the only slice that they take is love. Now, the scripture does say God is love but it most definitely does not say God is only love.
When that slicing happens, we end up with a marshmallow love! All squishy with no firmness or character. This kind of love says that whatever feels right to us….is good.
If God has a marshmallow love I can be a monstrous whiner and complainer and filled with lust and not care in the least about changing.
But since God’s love is inseparable from all his other qualities, this means that God has a lion love. There is something quite fearsome about the love of God. God’s lion love is a jealous love. We smile when we think how that means he is protective of his people, but we are filled with reverent awe when we think of God’s fierce anger when we love other things more than he!
Jesus is the lamb of God but he is also the lion of Judah. When we grasp both God’s fierceness and his compassion, then we can rejoice and be secure in knowing that our passionate God loves us with an unwavering love.
If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31b)
Kenny B's World 