Grappling with God's Holiness and Love - Psalms 89-90 and Romans 14
God is holy, and God is love. This is a paradox to us, because we can't understand how both of these traits work together all of the time. However, the more we come to understand this, the better we will do in living the Christian life. The psalmists knew that God was merciful and faithful. They knew they could count on God as their refuge and strength. However, it seems that they were puzzled by His punishment of King David and the nation of Israel. They did not understand God's holiness. God will not let sin go unpunished. He may act in mercy, but He wants us to see the deadliness of sin, so every sin has consequences. It is almost like the psalmists are saying that God should not be so harsh against sin, that He should overlook some of the sins, since He loves them. That is not possible, because of God's holiness. God would cease to be holy, if He ever compromised on sin. Therefore, we must come to the place where we love God and we fear Him at the same time. We respond to His love to us, and we fear what He will do to us, if we sin. Then, we can live the Christian life.
Romans 14 shows us how personal this becomes. Each one of us must work out our relationship with God each step of the way. We each have the Spirit and the Word of God to lead us, but we are responsible for applying the truth to our everyday lives. No one is responsible for my life except me, and no one is responsible for your life except you. Therefore, we have to decide what foods to eat and not to eat. We must decide what holy days to observe. We must do this on the basis of our trust in the Lord. Any time we do not act out of faith it is sin. In other words, we are to do everything we do, because we have personally decided it is what God wants us to do. We discern this from His Word and from our daily relationship with Him. Any time we go off on our own, it is a sin. Then, one day we will stand before God and give an account of how we did in trusting Him. Our sins will have been forgiven, but we will show how we loved Him and feared Him by obeying what He told us to do. In order to be ready for that day, we need to live in constant awareness of the holiness and love of God.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Psalms 91-93 and Romans 15:1-13.
Romans 14 shows us how personal this becomes. Each one of us must work out our relationship with God each step of the way. We each have the Spirit and the Word of God to lead us, but we are responsible for applying the truth to our everyday lives. No one is responsible for my life except me, and no one is responsible for your life except you. Therefore, we have to decide what foods to eat and not to eat. We must decide what holy days to observe. We must do this on the basis of our trust in the Lord. Any time we do not act out of faith it is sin. In other words, we are to do everything we do, because we have personally decided it is what God wants us to do. We discern this from His Word and from our daily relationship with Him. Any time we go off on our own, it is a sin. Then, one day we will stand before God and give an account of how we did in trusting Him. Our sins will have been forgiven, but we will show how we loved Him and feared Him by obeying what He told us to do. In order to be ready for that day, we need to live in constant awareness of the holiness and love of God.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Psalms 91-93 and Romans 15:1-13.