The Nature of God

As most Christians know the book of John (Jesus’ beloved disciple) is full of the width, height, and depth of our Heavenly Father’s love for us. First, second, and third John also contain many verses that speak of God’s love for mankind. I John 5:1: “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.” (ESV) John clearly tells us that if we love Jesus, then we also love the Father. From the words of Jesus, “If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:7 NIV) Jesus also said, “Truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” (John 5:19) Love does not come from just a head knowledge, but from the heart. When the Bible speaks of the heart, it isn’t just talking about the muscle that pumps our blood. For example, Proverbs 4:23 “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” (KJV) When the Bible refers to the heart, it speaks of it as the center of our being. It encompasses the totality of one’s intellect, emotion, and volition-(the power of one’s will-Mark 7:20-23). The heart, I believe, is synonymous with our human spirit. Now that we have a greater understanding of love and the definition of the heart as it is used in God’s Word, let’s get back to our topic, “The Nature of God.”

God is LOVE!

Jesus Christ came to Earth to be a living example of the Father’s love toward us. (Romans 5:8 NIV-“God proved His love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”) I John 4:8 commands all believers to love others, because God is LOVE! If you harbor unforgiveness, bitterness, and hatred in your heart, then you cannot KNOW God and you have not experienced HIS love. The agape kind of love is extremely difficult to describe, but when we read the Bible and allow Holy Spirt to guide us into truth, we begin to understand what a loving Heavenly Father we have (John 16:13). I could go on and on about the vastness of God’s love, however, I want to elaborate more on some of the other lesser-known attributes of our Mighty God!

God is JOY!

Recently, my husband and I went through a storm in our lives. During this storm, we held tightly to the hand of Jesus and relied on Holy Spirit to give us discernment about what decisions to make and steps to take. Throughout this season of our lives, God was faithful to sustain our JOY. Joy and happiness are NOT synonyms. Happiness is based on your circumstances or what is happening in your life at the moment. For example, if I am at my grandson’s football game and he scores a touchdown, then I jump up and down and yell out with happiness. This happiness is based on my circumstances. My JOY, however, is grounded and rooted in God. This joy will sustain me during life’s storms because I trust God to work EVERYTHING to my good (Romans 8:28 & Gen. 50:20). My diagnosis of APL (Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia) back in 2021 was a hurricane, BUT GOD sustained mine and my husband’s JOY throughout this journey to healing. God continues to use my husband and I to minister to others that are going through a health crisis or any other storm that life sometimes throws at us. Here are a few of my favorite scriptures that speak of God’s joy and fortitude: Psalm 27:1 NIV “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?” Isaiah 44:23 NIV “Sing for JOY, you heavens for the Lord has done this; shout aloud, you earth beneath. Burst into song, you mountains, you forests and all your trees, for the Lord has redeemed Jacob, he displays his glory in Israel.” Romans 15:13 NIV “May the God of hope fill you with all JOY and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

God is PEACE!

Peace is an attribute of God’s Nature that we as believers need to exhibit and share with others. Our current world is full of discouragement, unrest, and strife. Jesus was called The Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6 NIV “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”) In the book of Luke, he admonishes us to trust God with every detail of our lives because he loves and cares about every detail (Luke 12:24-“Consider the ravens: they do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much MORE valuable you are than birds!”). Strife and worry are tactics of the enemy to get you downtrodden and worn out. Trust, faith, and belief in the fact that God’s Nature is Peace, Love, and Joy and all three of these attributes should also be evident in the life of a believer.

God is FAITHFUL!

God has proven himself faithful throughout different seasons of my life. Even when I tried to run from him, I can look back and see how he protected me from harm and spoke to me to keep me safe. Great is His Faithfulness toward me! Deuteronomy 7:7 NIV “The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.” This verse speaks of the faithfulness of God to his chosen people. Today, anyone who confesses Jesus as Savior and Lord, will have eternal life. (Romans 10:17). We are his chosen people. He chooses us when we choose Him through Jesus Christ. After choosing Jesus, we are his beloved. Jesus sits at the right-hand side of God the Father interceding on your behalf (Romans 8:34). He is for US. God’s Nature is to be faithful to his chosen people. Matthew 22:32 NIV-“I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead but the living.” Once we accept Jesus as our sacrifice for our sins and confess Jesus as Lord of our lives, then we have eternal life and our spirit never dies. Our physical body will pass away BUT our spirit will never pass away. Our hope lies in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We also will be raised up and have an incorruptible body (I Corinthians 15:54 NIV-“When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written will come true: Death has been swallowed up in victory.”). Titus 1:2 NIV-“In the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time.” If we as believers and followers of Jesus Christ will also display faithfulness in all areas of our lives, then I believe that others will see God’s love demonstrated through us.

God is KIND!

I am grateful that I serve a God that is kind even when I do not always operate out of kindness. Jesus summed up all ten commandments in Matthew 22:37-39 NIV- “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” These words of Jesus were directed at the Pharisees who were full of religious acts but lacked genuine compassion and kindness for others. If we have the heart of our Heavenly Father to see people the way he sees them and operate out of genuine compassion and kindness, then we would truly be the hands, feet, and heart of Jesus. While I was teaching 5th grade, the book Wonder by R.J. Palacio was very popular. I decided to read it in order to find out if it was suitable to read to my 5th grade class. I fell in love with the character, Auggie Pullman. My heart was moved with the detailed description of his struggles with a facial deformity. He had been homeschooled through 4th grade and now his parents had made a tough decision to allow him to go to a public school. Since my students were the same age as Auggie and many of them had or were facing feelings of rejection or “not fitting in”, I found reading this book aloud to my students was a priceless tool in evoking meaningful conversations about how we should treat ALL people with respect and kindness. The underlying theme of this book is “Choose Kind.” Many people probably did not realize that this book ignited that movement. If you have children or grandchildren that are 8-14 years old, I highly recommend reading this book with them. It gained so much popularity that Hollywood made it into a movie also called Wonder starring Julia Roberts, Jacob Tremblay, and Owen Wilson. I know that this book is off topic from our main focus of Biblical references of the kindness of God, however, I also know from first-hand experiences how impactful a well written book can be in the hands and minds of young people.

God is Full of GRACE!

Grace is defined as the unmerited favor of God toward mankind. Throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament prophets and disciples of Jesus Christ spoke of the grace that God lovingly bestows on us. I know that quoting five verses here is a little much, but all five of these verses testify of God’s LOVE, GRACE, and KINDNESS toward mankind. Ephesians 2:5-10 KJV “Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (for by grace are ye saved;) and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship (NLT says we are his masterpiece! I love that!), created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” My pastor often speaks of “greasy grace”. This is the false doctrine that we can keep sinning and God’s grace will cover us. This is false teaching because if we LOVE God and truly encounter and understand how much he loves us, then it should grieve us to commit sin against our loving Heavenly Father. We, as believers should always be God conscious NOT sin conscious. This means that when you live a Spirit led life it will bring conviction and pull you to be more and more like Jesus every day. You should experience a yearning to honor and please God the Father more than any carnal desire. Over time, the believer will see that obedience reaps blessings and disobedience (sin) reaps consequences. I Peter5:10 NIV “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”

God is Comfort!

As I am typing this blog, I just received a call that my Uncle Noel passed from this life into eternal life. He lived a good long life (82 years old), but we, as humans, still grieve loss. I have been in prayer today for the family for God to comfort their broken hearts. I want to tell you that God will bring comfort to your broken heart during the loss of a loved one, a divorce, a financial hardship, or anything difficult that we go through on this earth. I have experienced all of the above and most of you have too. God is waiting for HIS children to cry out to him and trust HIM to help us make it through these difficult times. He sees the BIG picture and allows some of these things to bring about a greater good in our lives and to save other people by our testimonies (Gen. 50:20; Rev. 12:11). Ultimately, it is our trust (faith) that pleases God (Heb. 11:6). II Corinthians 7:6 NIV “But God who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus.” Paul is telling us that God will send people that are full of faith and hope to comfort us during our time of grief or suffering. Think about that…how many times have you felt downcast or lost a loved one and God put someone in your path to encourage you and truly show you the love of Christ. I often tell our youth group that there are NO coincidences, but only divine appointments when you are a child of God. II Corinthians 1:3 NIV “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of comfort.”

God is Forgiving! God is Merciful! God is Patient! God is Good!

I will not go into detail about these attributes of God, but oh how essential every one of them is to God’s Nature. Without forgiveness, we cannot be reconciled back to God, without mercy, we would all face the penalties and consequences of all of our sins, without patience, God would give up on us, and OH the Goodness of God! It overwhelms me every day of my life! We are chosen to be a living example of God just like Jesus was a living example of God the Father. It is a daily walk, and we must surrender to HIS will and not our carnal desires. BUT OH, the joy, peace, goodness, mercy, forgiveness, and LOVE that will overwhelm you! All the riches in this world cannot buy this. I pray that you will encounter the height, depth, and width of God’s love in your own life.

God bless you and your family. God Speed!