The million dollar question that everyone wonders about at least once in their lifetime is, “who is God?” I wish that I could give a simple answer that will satisfy your curious mind, but He’s such a beautiful and merciful being that no sentence can capture the fullness of who he is. There are no human words to actually describe him, but I will make every attempt to explain who he is according to my personal experience and research.
Before we talk about what God has done for us, we first need to understand who He is. The God of the Bible is the eternal Creator of everything that exists. He has no beginning and no end. He is perfectly holy, completely just, infinitely wise, all-powerful, and overflowing with love and mercy. Every breath you take, every sunrise you see, and every good gift you enjoy ultimately comes from Him. He didn't create humanity because He needed us, but because He desired a relationship with us.
The God of the Bible is not a distant force or an impersonal creator. He revealed Himself to Moses as the Great 'I AM' —the eternal One who has no beginning and no end— in Exodus chapter 3 verse 14 . His covenant name is Yahweh, and He is the Creator of heaven and earth. He’s the reason you were born and gave you the personality you have. He’s the One who was excited when you got on your knees as a child and asked him to protect you at night because you were scared of the dark. God heard every prayer you whispered and was the reason you felt peace in the difficult seasons of your life. He’s the reason you are alive today, despite every time you've gone your own way. The world will tell you that it was luck, but it was always God!
How many times have you thought back to yourself and wondered how you made it out of that terrible situation that could’ve killed you? Since you didn’t have a personal awareness of God, you probably thought it was your own conscience and it was all you. But deep down, you knew there was something more, even if you couldn’t quite understand it. More times than we can count, we actually take credit for all the times God saved us and took us out of a situation instead of coming to the realization that it was God doing all the work.
God is full of grace, mercy, love, and justice. Grace is giving you what you don’t deserve: the free gift of salvation when you believe in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. Mercy is when God does not give you what you deserve.
If God created us for a relationship with Him, then why doesn't everyone already have that relationship? The Bible gives one answer— sin. Isaiah chapter 59 verse 2 says, “your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.” Sin separates us from God because it displays our true belief that what God did and is doing in our lives is not better than the pleasures of this world. Our rebellion creates a barrier between a perfectly holy God and sinful people.
Romans chapter 6 verse 23 says that "the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.", meaning unless you truly accept the free gift of salvation that comes from having faith in Jesus Christ as God, you are choosing to be eternally separated from the love of God forever. Our God is also a just being and if there is wrong or a crime done, there has to be payment in order to repair the damage committed. For example, when you commit a crime and murder someone or even pass a red light, a cop will bring justice and arrest you. You are then brought to a judge to be given a penalty for the crime (sin) you committed. If someone, God forbid, murdered a child and when the responsible criminal was pardoned and given freedom to have a fresh start, then we would see the judge as corrupt and not actually working with the best interest of the citizens at heart. BUT if someone from the audience stands up and says, “I will pay for the crimes this man did. Take me instead.” Then the judge would still be fair because the the price would be paid for the crime. Even better, what if the one who committed the crime was the son of the judge and because he refused to go against the very law he is enforcing, the judge takes off his robe and declares that he will accept the just punishment on behalf of his son in order to save him from the death penalty… That is what God did for us when he sent his one and only Son to come down from heaven and die on the cross for all the sins we have and will commit in our lifetime. What happens to the person who committed the crime?
If you are the criminal who by a miracle was given a second chance at life to do things right this time, your response would reveal what you actually believe about the one who saved you. The person who is truly thankful and understands the gravity of the free gift of salvation will change his life around and live a life that brings honor to the one that saved him. He will never be able to repay the debt that comes as a result of his freedom, but he will do everything in his power to make sure that the one who died on his behalf didn’t die for nothing. The person responsible will turn his life into a living testimony of gratitude and point people to the one who saved him by the way he is living. That is true faith.
On the other hand, if the same person accepts the free gift of salvation and because he knows that his sins are forgiven continues to live a life that is opposite of what brings honor to God then his faith is not real. The person who lives in continual rebellion demonstrates that he never truly trusted Christ. He truly doesn’t understand how much God loves him that he would choose to die for this person while he was still sinning. God the Son took on human flesh in the person of Jesus Christ.
Notice how it all comes down to repentance and faith. Repentance means recognizing that you have sinned against a holy God and turning away from your old way of life. Faith means trusting Jesus Christ alone to save you. The truth is that no one deserves God’s mercy and grace, but out of the enormous love that God has for his people, He freely chooses to delay his judgement on the world so that everyone has time to be saved. While he gives people several chances to choose him, only God knows who has completely hardened their hearts and will never choose his Son. God the Father knows the beginning, middle and end of everyone’s story and his plan will always prevail. Nothing about your life surprises Him. He knows every thought, every choice, and every motive of your heart, yet He still lovingly calls people everywhere to repent and believe the gospel.
Don’t beat yourself down for too long because the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 18 that people are usually “darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.” Meaning, that before you knew God, your heart was hardened (spiritually blind, neglecting God) so this kept you from understanding who God truly is. This hardening or stubbornness of the heart was the reason you couldn’t understand the Bible when you read it or when you heard people talk about God and thought it was a fairytale story. Although Satan blinds unbelievers to the truth (2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 4), Scripture never excuses our rebellion. We are still responsible before God.
While it is true that your ignorance separated you from seeing the LORD, you have a responsibility to choose whether you will acknowledge God as your Savior or reject him so you can be your own god. Who you serve, whether that’s God or yourself, will determine the fate of your eternal life after you leave this earth. Romans chapter 14 verse 12 reads, “So then each of us will give an account of himself to God” regarding what happens when you die. According to Hebrews chapter 9 verse 27, “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,” once your soul leaves this earth. Imagine that you will be presented in a court room where you will have to give an account for all the meaningless and hurtful things you said and did. If you deliberately chose to reject Jesus Christ as your personal Savior or never truly believed in him, you will have to be eternally separated from the goodness of God in Heaven.
No one ends up in hell because God wanted to keep them out of heaven. People are condemned because of their own sin and rejection of Christ, and God, as the righteous Judge, confirms that choice in His judgment. Whatever you decide on this earth has an effect on your eternal life forever. If while you were on earth you avoided God, rejected all offers to learn more about Jesus, and even celebrated doing all the things the Bible told us that God hated, then why would God force you to be in his presence for all eternity? Eventually, if you never wanted God while you were on earth, then he will give you what you want and separate himself from you, sending you where his goodness is not which is hell.
2 Peter chapter 3 verse 9 reads that “the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” If God has allowed you time and woke you up today, it was an opportunity get your life together and come back to God so he can save you. Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world so that no one can have an excuse for rejecting God's offer of salvation. Don’t get so entitled by the cross that you miss the fact that Jesus suffered the worst death possible in public for a people who would STILL choose to reject him and say that God didn’t do enough for them. How much more do we need for God to prove to us that He is on our side and wants the best for us?!
It would have been so much easier for me to write a blog about how God is rainbows and sunshines and how he accepts you just the way you are. Probably would have been sweeter to read that you don’t have to change how you live because God knows your heart so He knows you’re a good person. However, Romans 3 verse 10 says, “There is none righteous, no, not one.” I wouldn’t truly love you if I didn’t warn you that you can’t live a life of opposition to the word of God and claim that you love God at the same time. You can’t say you love your spouse and then turn around and curse at them and physically abuse them; your actions don’t match what your lips are saying. In the same way, you can’t say you are a Christian and continue to live a life of drunkenness, promiscuity, and consume content that keep making fun of God.
You can read this blog all day and get my feedback as to why you should serve the LORD Yahweh, but you won’t ever understand until you get on your knees and invite God into your life. Repent, turn away from the sinful things you are doing, and ask God to help you understand the Bible so you can grow in your knowledge of His love. God created you for a purpose and is waiting on you to finally open your heart to Him. Tomorrow is never promised so get into your private place and pray to the God who can save you from yourself.
