Two Faced

4You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. 6We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. 7Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
1 John 4: 4 - 8 NKJV

One of the arguments I've heard from those who somehow oppose my christian beliefs is that God is a jealous and violent God.  That God I serve is a God who allows violence and tragedy to be sowed upon His children whom He claims to love.  What sort of loving God would allow such things?  Did not God destroy Sodom and all of its inhabitants {Genesis 19:24}?  Didn't God Himself destroy all of the creation which He claimed was "Good" {Genesis 6:13}?  Time and again in scripture we see our heavenly Father showing a side of Himself which we are not at all comfortable with.  This is the side of God which portrays His jealousy, anger and vengence.  It is this side of God that those who wish to find fault with Him point a accusatory finger at and proclaim Him a angry God.  I won't disagree with that statement, but is this our Lords true nature which He exhibits each and every day?  I cannot dispute that there have been times in which God has exhibited that side of Himself which we rarely see.  However, I also believe that this is not that side of Him which He chooses to identify with.  The characteristics of God that I identify with is His identity which the apostle John tells us in John 4.  For this God we serve is indeed...Love.  These two sides of Gods nature were confusing in my attempts to further know and understand Him.  Yes, I knew the evidence of each side of His nature, which led to that confusion I'm thinking.  Does God want His childen to identify Him as BOTH a jealous God and a loving God?  Is anyone else confused here?  Well, through the help of a trusted friend I've come to realize that although our heavenly Father has often displayed both sides of Himself, it is His loving nature which He CHOOSES to identify with.

23“Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the LORD your God has forbidden you. 24“For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God."
Deuteronomy 4: 23 - 24 NKJV

The question came up yesterday from Dennis that our God is indeed loving, but has He always been this way?  My response was...no.  Others might want me kicked out of whatever church I was attending, if I did attend church.  The reason for my response to Dennis' question was based on the two sides of the God we know, and the side of Him we often wish He didn't need to exhibit at all.  That side of God which exhibits His anger and jealousy.  I will say this, that our Lord NEVER does something without a reason or purpose.  If we look at the two examples I presented for the opposite side of Gods Love nature, we may see why it is He chose to reveal it when He did.  Yes, God CHOSE to reveal His opposite side to destroy the city of Sodom, but also recall the wickedness of Sodom in its day.  God CHOSE to destroy the earth and all of His creation in that great flood, but also rememeber His thoughts before He did.


5Then cthe LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intentd of the thoughts of his heart was only evil econtinually. 6And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7So the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
Genesis 6: 5 - 7 NKJV

So it is that we see a glimpse into just why God would CHOOSE to exhibit that opposite side of Himself.  Keep in mind that I said that God CHOSE to reveal that side of Himself, for this opposite side of our Lords Love identity is not how He wishes His children to see Him.  If we were to experience the opposite side of our heavenly Fathers nature, then perhaps we would indeed lack that grace we experienced at the cross.  No, this is not the side of Himself He chooses to exhibit.  We do well to remember that it is because He loved us first that he lives through us today {Galations 2:20}.

~Scott~