Faith for life

The Lord is fire, He is wise, He loves, He will judge and He is faithful. As the world around us has changed over the centuries, so has faithfulness. God, who embodies faithfulness, created the world to be faithful. We read, again and again, in the Bible, that nature, everything that is around us, is obedient and faithful to the Lord. The mountains quake before God and the hills melt away (Nahum 1:5), the sea does not rise over the limit that God has given to it (Proverbs 8:29) and the valleys sing for joy to the Lord (Psalm 65:13). Nature acts this way because it acknowledges God as its creator. God also created mankind to be faithful. God's intention was for Adam and Eve to be faithful to Him, but, instead, they betrayed His trust, they took His faithfulness for granted. Since the time of Adam and Eve, mankind has found more ways to be unfaithful. Sometimes partners betray each other, friends do not remain faithful to one another, organisations deceive their customers, and t

My previous post looked at the loving part of God's personality, this post is focusing on the righteousness of God. God's love and His righteousness very much work together. There is no love in God that is not a righteous love, and there is no righteousness in God that does not come from a place of love.  Followers of Jesus, can often easily embrace the love of God but then become uneasy when they are confronted with His righteousness. Why is this so? Well, first, I believe that much of our 21st century 'church' society has taught us that God is loving all the time and a fount of forgiveness; no matter that we continue to sin, because we 'are not perfect'. This teaching can be very dangerous, because it isn't addressing the righteousness and judgment of God. The loving nature of God seems to be easy to cherish, because many followers of Jesus believe that they can depend on God's love forever; whilst continuing to be a slave to sin. But this is no