Even people who know very little about the Bible can usually cite the famous phrase “God is love” (1 John 4:8). The idea that love is God’s essential nature is incredible.
It frankly sounds too good to be true. Yet the Bible declares repeatedly that it is true and then shows in detail its life-changing implications.
On the one hand, divine affection means God is for us, that He wants whatever is best for us.
On the other hand, it means God, like any devoted parent, is against anything that would be detrimental to His children. We could say it this way: Because God loves us, He hates everything that might harm us.
This is how we reconcile the love of God with all His other attributes that, on first glance, maybe don’t “seem” so loving (divine holiness, justice, and wrath against sin). God is all that He is, all the time.
In other words, God doesn’t have multiple personalities. His attributes don’t work independently from one another. They’re always in concert and never in conflict. For example, God is holy in the way He loves.
God is fully loving in the way He metes out justice. Because God doesn’t change, we can be sure His love won’t either. Since God is omnipresent, His love is everywhere. (We could continue, but you get the picture.)
No matter what happens, and regardless of what we’re facing, we can know that we are kept, watched, listened to, and cared for by One who is wild about us. God is love.
And there is never a time or a situation where our loving God is not right there.
How do you reconcile God’s love with His fearful justice?
