Comfortable or Uncomfortable?

Are you comfortable?
A sense of being comfortable had crept over me as I would go before God with my requests. No longer was there fear of a holy God. No longer was there a sense of awe. His love had been the emphasis so much that it was getting old. 

I mean, can't we come before God "as we are"? To an extent, yes... 

Our church culture of today emphasizes God's love so much today that we forget a very important aspect of our God and His love seems to be something we can just take advantage of any time we want. 

But, don't you remember the God of the Old Testament? The God who was jealous of His people because they went after other gods? The God who fumed with hatred towards sin and evil? Isn't He the God who doesn't change?

God has not changed. His holiness ought to make us tremble, then fall on our faces before Him in awe, while His love gently touches us and causes us to realize that, because of His holiness His love is so much more a miracle! 

Don't we tend to emphasize how much our God loves us while minimizing His holiness? Why is that? His holiness makes us ...uncomfortable. 

We despise discomfort in our modern day and age, when everything is about reclining and enjoying ourselves. But don't you remember that those in the bible who truly saw God for who He was fell on their faces before Him? 

"'Have you no respect for Me?'" He asks in Jeremiah 5:22. "'Why don't you tremble in My presence?'" 

God is not someone you just relax around, He is Deity. He is holy. And His holiness makes His love so much more amazing. 

You see, it was His holiness that caused there to be a need for a Savior. And it was His love that caused Him to be that Savior. We ought to approach Him with deep awe, respect and amazement that He could be such a God. 

It was at that cross where His holiness and His love met, and the greatest miracle took place. God, who was separated from us by His holiness and our shame, met us with His great love for us through Jesus Christ! 

When we are uncomfortable because of His holiness, we begin to see that it could not be because of us that He loves us; it can only be an unconditional love, a love that came with a high cost.

Don't minimize His holiness, for without it, His love is not a miracle....

Comments

Unknown said…
Thanks Sandie! It's a good reminder that God's holiness and love are not interchangeable. They go hand in hand and we should treat them as inseparable.
July 20, 2012 at 3:09 AM
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