God's Character

 

I've been a little occupied the last couple of days and did not get to post yesterday. Now, I am late for today! But, better late than never! LOL!

I am reading Hebrews and thought about God's Character and his place as our great High Priest. If you would have asked 30 years ago, claiming the title of Pastor or Priest would have been honorable and it would have spoken a lot about your character. As time progresses more and more stories of severe failures have been reported involving priests and pastors. Sexual misconduct, abuse, financial failures are just a few of the stories we read. Then when you couple that with the stories of war, death, murder, and God's wrath found in the Bible, it is understandable that many people question the character of God. 

Let me be as emphatic as I can ---- God is good. God is just. God is faithful. God is kind. God is love. The Character of God is without blemish. If God has any flaw, and I am saying "IF," it is that he has allowed free will in man. It is through our free will, our ability to choose or not to choose to follow Jesus, that the evil exists in the world. All evil and all suffering that occurs in this world can be tied back to the sin that entered the world in Genesis. God however, knew what he was doing! 

Hebrews has several verses that speak to the character of God. We learn of his grace and mercy in Hebrews 4:16. Then read this:

"... We are confident that you are meant for better things, things that come with salvation. For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers, as you still do." (Hebrews 6:9,10)

"So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie." (Hebrews 6:18)

When you are about to give up on God as being unjust, unloving, and immoral, that is the time to seek him more. Ask him to show you his perfect grace, his perfect mercy, his perfect love. Ask him to speak to your heart and I can assure you HE will show his true character to you. The evil, the pain, the suffering that accompany this world sadden him more than you could ever know and he longs for us to rest in his presence. 

"So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. For all who have entered into God's rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall." (Hebrews 4:9-11)