Loving God for Who He Is, Not What He Does

I listen to the radio a lot. Mostly, I stick to worship or classical music, but I enjoy some country as well. The worship station I listen to most includes something called Dive Deeper every hour, where they play a short section of a talk or sermon by a pastor, from a podcast, etc. They’ve given me a lot to think about, for sure! One of the ones I recall most vividly was a pastor reading from Revelation.

In Revelation 4:8, John writes:

And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; 

and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, 

saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, 

which was, and is, and is to come.

The pastor (I don’t remember his name, sadly) pointed out that they were calling God holy. Then he made the rather ironic point that if a similar situation were to happen today, most likely holy would not be the word we sang. Nowadays, people are more likely to say, “Love, love, love, Lord God Almighty.” 

Now, I’m not arguing that God is not love. He is! In 1 John 4:8 and 4:16 he writes that God is love. But He’s not just love, right? He is holy as well—perfect. And because He is holy, He can’t have our sin in heaven. But He loves us all the same.

I don’t think many people realize this. I think, perhaps, they like to focus on His love more, saying “Well, if God loves us, He won’t punish us!” or at least, He will lighten the punishment. But that’s not true. 

Second Peter 2—the whole chapter—is all about God bringing His righteous punishment to the ungodly.

I’m not saying this to scare you, not at all! I’m also not trying to condemn those who are not believers. Not at all! This is just a warning, but I want to take you past that, to the wonders beyond.

See, God loved us so much that He gave us Jesus, His son, to give us a way for our sins to be covered so we can be with Him! I know you know this already, though (if you don’t, you can read more about it HERE), so I’m not going to dwell on that part (as awesome as it is!).

I want to bring you around to what comes after salvation. Now God’s holiness is “appeased,” so to speak. In His sight, we are clean. We are His children!

And this is all because, combined with His love, mercy, and holiness, God reached down to cleanse us. He didn’t have to.

But He did.

Because that’s just who He is.

There’s a country song (this is part of the reason I rarely listen to country anymore) that is all about only talking to God when you need a favor.  This is completely the wrong attitude! 

You see, I think some people (including me to some degree, when I’m not focused on Him enough) only appreciate God for what He can do for us, not for who He is for us—a loving Father and guide.

Because God wouldn’t have done what He did if He wasn’t who He is! 

I’m learning this more and more every day. I’m reading through the Psalms currently, and every single one is full of God’s goodness and love! Some of them start out with David asking God things like how long He will turn His face from him, but every single time he ends in praise to God. 

Keep trusting God—for who He is!

Thank you for reading, and God bless you (as He always will 😉 <3)!

~Janet