God’s Unchanging Character (Why We Can Count on Him)

This Renovate Your Faith devotional relates to this DIY tutorial: How to Hang Gallery Wall Art Easily

The concept of “level” has always been a comforting idea to me.  Whether you are hanging picture frames or building a home’s foundation, you can’t go wrong if you are measuring off 0 degrees. 

Because no matter your background, your political affiliation or how you like your coffee, level is level.  It’s a standard we can all depend on.

It’s our constant that will always help us regain the right orientation when our project is off-kilter.

In the same way, God is our constant when life gets off balance.  He is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent.  He is perfectly just, loving, kind, generous, righteous.  He is the Alpha and Omega.  Our Lord is the “I Am”.  The world doesn’t define Him.  Instead, He defines the world, telling the land where to stop and the oceans where to start.

No matter what happens in life, He is the plumb line that we can look to when our lives feel unhinged.

One thing struck me recently as I was reading about the time Moses asked God to show him His glory.

^“Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord.  And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”  Exodus 34:6-7

In God’s words, we see an accurate representation of His character.  He is perfectly loving as He is perfectly just.  For God to be God, all aspects of His character have to remain in place.  He cannot ignore sin and still be perfectly righteous. (I John 2:2)

You could easily fill a book with adjectives describing the perfect standard of God’s righteous character.  But of all the words to describe His character, He starts first with compassion. 

He welcomes us first with open, gracious arms.  As He said those words to Moses on the mountain, He knew He would one day send His Son as a bridge of His love and compassion to all of His people.

God never buries the lead. 

He could have introduced Himself as the God of righteousness or the God of justice.  These things would have been true and consistent with His character. But instead, He first introduces Himself as ‘the compassionate and gracious God.”

God is the standard of good and will always stay true to His character as a righteous and just God.  But He always initiates with the invitation of a compassionate parent.  He does this through the sacrifice of His only Son, the ultimate act of unselfish love and grace.

When life is hard, and we have trouble knowing which way is up, not only is He our standard of all things good, but He also welcomes us with loving arms.

No matter what we have to endure in life, God is ready to receive us with open arms of compassion

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

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