God's Character

I was listening to one of my talk show programs today when a caller called in. She was talking about how politics and morals change depending on who is president. I don’t necessarily disagree with that but something she said at the end of the call alarmed me and made me sad. She was saying how she encourages her children to look at this talk show host as a step-father (she had mentioned she was divorced and that the kids father wasn‘t involved in their life). She said that this talk show host was a great step-father because he was always reliable, always faithful, he would never disappoint them, he was always truthful and trustworthy, and that he would never let them down. She went on to describe a bunch of other traits and all I could think about was what a disservice she was doing to her kids.

God is the only one who is always faithful, as Psalm 89:8 says “O LORD God Almighty, who is like you? You are mighty, O LORD, and your faithfulness surrounds you.”

God is the only one who is always trustworthy, Hebrews 6:18 “So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie.”

God is the only one who will never leave you or forsake you as Hebrews 13:5b “Never will I leave you, Never will I forsake you.”

It made me sad to think that she was teaching her kids to look up to this talk show host as if he were an infallible god. When times get tough a mere man is not always going to be there or give us the support or help we need. God will always give help when called as Psalms 121:2 says “My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”

Whenever we need help, guidance, encouragement, support, or we just want to vent at the unfairness of life God is always there to listen and answer. 2 Chronicles 7:14 says, If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face and turn from their sins, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive there sin and heal their land.”

He offers comfort to us as Jeremiah 31:13 says, “Then maidens will dance and be glad, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.”

What man or woman can live up to just these few characteristics of God?

God is a just and loving God, he is merciful and longsuffering (especially for those of us who take a long time to learn the lesson he has for us).

He is forgiving and will forgive anything. For all of this and much more: “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.” John 6:28.

I know it seems to good to be true, I can have comfort, joy, love, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, self-control, and the list goes on, all by trusting in the one God sent, Jesus.

I think one of the reasons it is so hard for us to believe in Jesus Christ is that it seems too easy. I don’t have to “work” for salvation? All I have to do is believe? We have to work for everything else why not this? Ephesians 2:8,9 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast.”

I believe it is also Pride, we think that we don’t need anyone else, we don’t need to be saved, “I’m not as bad as ________”, “at least I didn’t kill someone”. Both of these things are true but have you ever quarreled, were jealous of someone, had outbursts of anger, ever slandered anyone, gossiped about anyone, were arrogant, or lied to someone, even a little white lie? Each of these things are sins too.

Romans 2:23 says, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. That means everyone has sinned and sin leads to death.

Romans 6:23 says For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

So what do we do now? We know we will sin is there any hope?

The answer is found in Romans 10:9 If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Isn’t that great. We just have to believe and we will be saved.

Some of you may still have a lot of doubts about accepting Jesus as your Savior, and those words may not mean a lot to you. I understand. It took me a long time to even acknowledge Jesus as my Savior. It seemed “Taboo”. That doesn’t mean I didn’t acknowledge him throughout my life. I remember even when I was little praying to Him (he always answered) but I never took that extra step. First I didn’t understand it. In the church I grew up in we didn’t even really talk about Jesus and you definitely weren’t suppose to have him as your Savior and Lord. Second, I didn’t really see a need to take that next step. I would think, “I pray to God and I try and follow His rules, what do I need that next step for?”

When you do take that next step you find out why you needed to take it. You realize that without God what point is there in life. Especially if you have gone through a lot of tough things in your life. I know the only way I was able to get through a bunch of issues in my life was because I had the hope that there was a God out there and that His hand was on my life and that everything that happened to me could be turned to good. You also realize that you can have a personal relationship with Him.

Now when people talk about this they think, “whatever, God doesn’t care about the little details in my life”. He does, he knows every hair on your head (even if you don’t know how many you have he does). 300 years before Cyrus was born God Called Him by name and planned for his future, Isaiah 45:1 "This is what the LORD says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut:” He cared about Cyrus (the Persian Emperor) 300 years before his birth. He used King Cyrus to enable the Jews to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple.

God does care about your life, your needs, your hope and your dreams. He will listen when you call to him and He will answer.




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