5 Minute Read + Scripture readings
TODAY’S BIBLE READING:
Amos 4:1–6:14
Revelation 2:18–3:6
Psalm 130:1-8
Proverbs 29:21-22
TODAY’S BIBLE VERSE(S):
Psalm 130:3-4 (CSB): “LORD, if you kept an account of iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, so that you may be revered.”
REFLECTIONS ON TODAY’S BIBLE VERSE(S):
Our Verses for Today reveal the “problem” of God’s love and holiness.
Since God is love, He wants us to come into relationship with Him and enjoy Him. He wants to forgive us of our sins so that we can enjoy Him in this life and also in the life to come.
Since God is holy, He cannot tolerate sin. He cannot allow sin into His presence and He must punish it severely wherever He sees it. After all, good judges cannot simply overlook law-offenders and God is a Good Judge.
But, therein lies the problem! God’s love says that He wants us to be with Him in this life and in Heaven forever. But, God’s holiness says that we cannot come near Him but, instead, must be punished in a place called Hell forever.
God’s love says: “I want you to be with Me!”
God’s holiness says: “You are a lawbreaker and I must send you away from My holy presence.”
So, how does God reconcile the “problem” between His love and holiness? Look at the cross, my friend!
The cross shows us how much God loves us. It shows us how far God was willing to go to make us right in His eyes so that we could know Him and enjoy Him.
John 3:16 (CSB): “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
But, the cross also shows us how holy God is. God could not simply overlook our sin. Someone had to pay our sin debt. So, God sent His Son to do just that so that anyone who transfers their trust (trusts in Jesus and not themselves) will be forgiven and saved (refer back to John 3:16).
God must be true to Himself. He is love and cannot diminish that attribute simply because He is also holy. But, He is holy and cannot diminish that attribute simply because He is also love. The cross allowed Him to demonstrate both and remain true to both of those attributes.
Further, the cross allowed Him to glorify Himself so that in eternity we will celebrate what He did for us. God is so good!
Ephesians 2:4-7 (CSB): “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”
Matt’s Musings 