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Questions About Life and God
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By EveryStudent.com
God loves us and has chosen to reveal his nature, his thoughts, his heart to us. Here are seven characteristics of God that we can count on.
God, who created the universe in all of its magnitude and creative details, is not hidden. He need not be distant, aloof. Somewhere “out there.” Instead, he welcomes us into a relationship, so that we can get to know him in a personal way, as we might a close friend.
Not only can we know about him, we can know him, intimately.
“I am the good Shepherd. I know my own and my own know me…My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”1
"Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom
or the strong man boast of his strength
or the rich man boast of his riches,
but let him who boasts boast about this:
that he understands and knows me,
that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight," declares the Lord.2
God invites us to talk to him and bring to him what concerns us. We don't have to get our act together first. Neither do we need to be polite, theologically correct or holy. It is his nature to be loving and accepting when we go to him.
"The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth."3
“Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”4
Everything we make is put together with existing materials or built on previous thoughts. God has the capacity of speaking things into existence, not just galaxies and life forms, but solutions to today's problems. God is creative, for us. His power is something he wants us to be aware of and to rely on.
"Great is our Lord and mighty in power;
his understanding has no limit."5
"...where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth."6
We sin. We tend to do things our way instead of God's way. And God sees it and knows it. God does not merely overlook such sin, but is prepared to judge and condemn people for their sin. However, God is forgiving and will forgive us from the moment we begin a relationship with him. Jesus, the Son of God, paid for our sin with his death on a cross. He rose from the dead and offers us this forgiveness.
"We are made right in God's sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done... We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us."7
What he says, we can trust. What he promises, can be counted on. When God promises us forgiveness, eternal life, a relationship with himself…we can believe. God is telling the truth. Jesus emphasized this by the many times he said, “Truly, I say to you…” What God reveals about himself and about how to live on this earth is reliable information. More sure than our feelings, thoughts, and limited perception, God is totally accurate and honest in what he says. Every promise he makes to us can be trusted, he means it. We can take him at his word.
"The unfolding of your words gives light;
it gives understanding to the simple.
Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path."8
“The word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.”9
How would you like to be always 100% right, about everything? God is. His wisdom is unlimited. He understands all the elements of a situation, including the history and future events related to it. We do not have to update him, counsel him or persuade him to do the right thing. He will, because he is capable and his motives are pure. If we trust him, he will never make a mistake, never undercut us or deceive us. He can be fully trusted to do what is right, in all circumstances, at all times.
“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?”10
"No one whose hope is in you
will ever be put to shame..."11
In many of our relationships, love is conditional. “I love you if you think/behave a certain way.” Or “I love you because of these qualities in your life.” As long as you live up to these you’re loved, you’re accepted. It’s based on what you do.
God’s love is quite unique. It is unconditional, without requirements. He loves us, not based on whether we deserve his love. He loves us because it’s his nature to love. He describes his love as faithful, unfading, unchanging and personal. God does not just promise he loves us, he proved it when Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sin. He deeply desires for us to know him and experience his love.
“God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to take away our sins.”12
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”13
This is who God tells us he is. The following explains how you can begin a relationship with God right now: How to Know God Personally.
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Footnotes: (1) John 10:14,27,28 (2) Jeremiah 9:23,24 (3) Psalms 145:18 (4) Matthew 11:28 (5) Psalms 147:5 (6) Psalms 121:1,2 (7) Romans 3:22,25 (8) Psalms 119:130,105 (9) 2Sam 22:31 (10) Psalms 27:1 (11) Psalms 25:3 (12) 1John 4:9,10 (13) Rom 8:35, 37-39
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