STAND IN AWE!
GOD GAVE HIS ALL.
When you think of the greatness of God, you can’t help but stand in Awe. Marvel. Be humbled. Realize that He is God, this is His world, He’s in charge and you are not.
Righteousness…
One of the most awesome things about God is how righteous He is. We compromise. We tell “white lies.” We cut corners and look out for ourselves first. We fall short of God’s mark (in other words, we constantly sin). But God’s character is so different. He never changes. His Word is like a sword; He means what He says and He demands our total devotion. When we’re not devoted to God, we face the consequences. If you jump off a building and disobey the laws of gravity, you’ll be hurt. And you can’t get away with sin either. If you lie, or steel, or cheat it will eventually come back and make your life difficult.
Love…
And yet, God loves us. No matter how much we ignore Him or go our own way, like the father of the prodigal son God waits for us to return (Luke 15:20). Even in the Old Testament, God reveals His character of love.
In Deuteronomy 10:15, it says that God “set His affections on your [the Israelite’s] forefathers and loved them.” A few verses later (verse 18) it says, “He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. ”
Righteousness and Love…
God has two rock-hard steady characters: Righteousness and Love. He can’t tolerate anything less than a complete devotion to Him. ANY sin deserves death and eternal separation from God (Genesis 3:1-19).
But on the cross of Jesus, God’s Righteousness and Love collided. Sin requires death, but God provided that death. Jesus paid the price. God gave His All in All.
John 3:16 says it best…
“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.
God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.
Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.
(from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)
God gave His all for us. Believe it! Trust in it! Don’t think your all in all is good enough.
God gave His All- so stand in Awe!
