God Is...

Written by: Katie Nowak

“Who is God to you?”

This question was asked to all of us young adults by Talia Kahrs at Encounter this past Wednesday and I want you to take a minute to think about it yourself.

“Who is God to you?”

When you thought about this question, did you fit God in the box you have made, or did you refer to scripture? Sometimes it’s easy to make God fit into a box that aligns with what we choose to believe (Republican views, Democratic views, our stance on abortion, our viewpoint on marriage, how to best love our neighbor, etc.) but it’s so important to truly know who God is and not just think about what He might be.

Let’s take a look at Exodus 34:6. This verse lays out who God is because it’s the Lord speaking about His own character: “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” He continues in verse seven by saying, “…keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

God is…merciful.

God is…gracious.

God is…slow to anger.

God is…abounding in steadfast love.

God is…abounding in faithfulness.

God is…forgiving.

God is unlike any human we have ever met. He doesn’t condemn us for the times when we aren’t gracious or the times when we are quick to anger and when we are unfaithful.

The reason we as Christians can live a life of no condemnation is through repentance. Repentance occurs when we turn away from our sin. In verse seven it says that he “will by no means clear the guilty.” This can be a bit daunting because we are all guilty. We are all sinners who are broken and messed up who are in need of a Savior. A Savior who would die on the cross and carry all of our brokenness and messed up stuff with him, to death, so we wouldn’t have to.

Lucky for us, that’s Jesus and He has already come!

Jesus is God in human flesh. Jesus died on the cross for our sins; for our brokenness and messed up stuff He gave His life. He is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, loving, faithful, and forgiving.

Broken, beautiful human…you don’t have to live in guilt any longer. We serve a God who clears our guilt through repentance and loves us unconditionally. Turn to the Father and experience who He truly is.