Recently, I was leading a class about personal evangelism, sharing the finer points of the gospel message, when I recalled the first time I learned about the nature of God. Now you might ask, “How do we ask someone to follow Christ when we don’t really understand God? I’m glad you asked! First, remember this: God told the prophet Isaiah (55:9), “For as heaven is higher than earth, so My ways are higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts”. So, while we don’t understand everything, there are ways to understand Him better studying His nature, primarily by observing His actions recorded in the Bible, which is God’s preserved will for mankind. When the old apostle Paul was mentoring a young pastor he said, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:’ (2 Timothy 3:16), reminding him to, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15).
So, I would submit that while God’s thoughts and ways are so superior to mankind’s, we can study the Scriptures for ourselves and ask Him to reveal Himself to us.
During my time of instruction, I used an illustration of a .25 cent coin, better known as, “a quarter,” to express my understanding. Holding a quarter in my hand, I shared, this quarter has opposite sides, a head and a tail. Throughout my life before a game of American football would begin, the referee would ask one team to “call sides,” so that starting positions would be establish. The winner of the coin toss would then be given the choice of “kickoff” or “return.”
Just as this coin has two sides, so does the nature of God. He is God and will not clear the guilty, but He also revealed Himself through the sacrifice for Jesus Christ who reconciles us with Himself.
Wrath and punishment or grace and mercy. When I was a small child, it seemed as if every preacher was consumed with preaching “hellfire and brimstone.” Now that I am an aging man it seems as if every sermon I hear is on “grace and mercy” and never a mention about hell and the brimstone of the lake of fire.
To proclaim an unbalanced portrayal of God’s nature and a disservice to humankind, so I challenge you to study the Scripture for yourselves…it just might change someone’s life and bring peace to a troubled soul. God bless you.
E.C.