Click here to listen to this post onthe holiness and compassion of God on the Candidly Kendra podcast:
I can’t imagine that we’re supposed to have a least favorite characteristic of God.
But to tell the whole truth, that’s how I always felt about the holiness of God.
Holy = Set Apart
Awesome. Powereful. Too great for me. Separated from me. “Up there.”
God’s holiness was the one quality in his character that separated him from me. It made him recoil from me, I thought. It made me ashamed.
So I thought about other things. I thought about his love and his forgiveness. I thought of him as my “Abba, Father.”
But I had missed the point! God opened my eyes to a greater understanding of his holiness and his compassion as I was reading Gentle and Lowly this week.
Maybe God’s holiness and his compassion fit together more perfectly than I’d ever understood before.
Watch my video below for my Tuesday Talk on the holiness and compassion of God!
See Also
“This is Why Christians Can’t Get Along”
“Three Great Books To Read With Your Small Group”
Recommended Book
Don’t we mistrust God’s holiness because we don’t have it (maybe)? We are certainly afraid of it. But look at Jesus! How can God be totally holy, totally perfect, justly angry, and greatly compassionate at the same time? Look at Jesus!
And that makes me appreciate something I read in the ancient book THE PRACTICE OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD (and I’m paraphrasing because I can’t find my copy): when the Brother would mess up, he would say, “God, I’m so sorry. I don’t ever want to do that again. But I will never do anything other than that unless You take me in hand.” That’s going to a perfect, holy, just, compassionate Father.