This just in from our global online tribe: “I want to know how God can be merciful and at the same time wrathful.”
GOOD NEWS! We can reconcile these two seemingly opposed forces.
Start by DEBUNKING the notion that God’s mercy and wrath are in direct opposition. They are certainly an odd couple, but they are not in opposition. They BOTH exist to glorify God.
Understanding that concept is tough. Especially when you consider how some people who acknowledge God’s judgment but then jump on a pedestal to condemn others they feel are at odds with Jesus.
On the pole’s extreme other end are people who give out passes for sin to demonstrate their “tolerance.” That sends them careening down the slippery slope of relativism to land nowhere near God and his Word of truth.
Jude helps us sort out those two extremes. The half-brother of Jesus, he was a champion of God’s love and mercy. He exhorts believers to fully plunge into God’s love and wait for his mercy with patience.
At the same time, he asks us to be merciful toward others who have drifted away from God.
Even with Jude’s deep commitment to God’s love and mercy in Christ, he is just as committed to the reality that God judges those who turn their back on him.
Both these concepts–God’s mercy and his judgment–are pillars in the gospel of Christ. Take away either one of the two—mercy or wrath—and we’re left with only a part of God’s redemptive message that Jesus came to make manifest.
If God’s wrath for sin is minimized, his holiness is compromised and Jesus’ sacrifice becomes pointless.
For me, I ask God do help me understand the existence of his mercy and wrath so my life can shine a beacon of light into the darkness in a way that glorifies him.
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
Where do you turn when you hear the LIE that God is mad at you?
“Keep yourselves in the love of God, as you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ in his mercy to give you eternal life.” Jude 1:21
