God Of Both

I have spent a significant amount of time attempting to understand God’s love for me.

I am in awe of His ability to give me unconditional love, grace, and mercy in ways that transcend my own understanding. We often hear people question God’s love as a result of experiencing hardship. But, I have come to a point in my life where I have found such peace in knowing that we serve the God of both. He’s the God of love, compassion, grace, and mercy. But He is also Judge. He hates evil, pursues justice, and initiates wrath. We see these examples in the book of Genesis, with the Flood, and also in the book of Exodus, when Pharaoh experienced the ten plagues for being disobedient.

But, I have sat with this question for some time: how could the God of both love me so much? The answer could be as simple as: because He is good OR because He is love. Both of those things are true, by the way, but I long to understand more deeply how God loves because I want to give that love to others.

I want to love like God loves. I want to give grace and mercy like He does. I want to have compassion for His people like He does. I want to embody God’s love.

So how do we do that? Scripture tells us how to be like Christ in so many passages throughout the Bible. But one that I recently came across was in the book of Jude. If you’re not familiar with this book, I urge you to read it! It’s found right before the book of Revelation. It is a very small book in the Bible, consisting of just twenty-five verses. But it is so powerful in communicating 1) how to contend for the faith, 2) it encourages us to remain faithful, and 3) it teaches us how to stay in God’s love and give that love to others in the midst of a dark world.

To provide a little of a backstory, Jude is addressing believers of Jesus who are living contrary to Christianity. And there’s a distinction made between those who have truly chosen to embrace the love of God and live for Him versus those who say they are living for God but are being led by their flesh. What I love about the book of Jude is that he is reminding us that we serve a God of both: the God of accountability and the God of love. Jude encourages us to stay the course and embrace God’s love for us.

Starting at verse 20:

But you, my delightfully loved friends, constantly and progressively build yourselves up on the foundation of your most holy faith by praying every moment in the Spirit. Fasten your hearts to the love of God and receive the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who gives us eternal life.

Then, it gives us some instructions. Picking up on verse 22:

Keep being compassionate to those who still have doubts, and snatch others out of the fire to save them. Be merciful over and over to them, but always couple your mercy with the fear of God. Be extremely careful to keep yourselves free from the pollutions of the flesh.

Family, hold onto love. Press into compassion. Give mercy. And BE a physical representation of Jesus today. We live in a fallen world but the good news is STILL good!

Hold onto that truth and walk in the love of God.

Som Tami

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