the severity of God

I am deeply convinced of the goodness of God. The longer I walk with Him, the more evident His goodness becomes to me. As I submit to His goodness, I am also increasingly aware of His severity. His overwhelming goodness does not negate the fact the He is God and I am not. While we have been created in the image of God, we frequently attempt to create God in our own image. In other words we create a god with whom we are comfortable. Our creation of our own personal god displaces the Creator with self.

Ananias and Sapphira greatly underestimated the severity of God. They attempted to appear godly by their giving to the church what they presented as the entire proceeds of the sale of some land. In reality, they kept some of the proceeds of sale for themselves (which was their prerogative). As a result of their fraudulent actions, God struck them down with death.

When I read the gospels, I watch for what affects Jesus. At one point, Jesus was deeply angered by the hardness of the religious leaders' hearts. They were more interested in the proper protocol than they were with healing to come to a man with a crippled hand. The hardness of their hear provoked the anger of God.

Hebrews tells us that God disciplines those He loves. There are times when the discipline of God seems harsh. However I have discovered that even His discipline comes from His goodness. He ruthlessly attacks the self-god that seeks to control my life. As I submit to His hand, His directives, and His ways, His goodness is showered on my life.

I am concerned that Christians today do not understand the severity of God. Repeatedly I hear people say "God told me to..." Yet they turn around and act in complete opposition to what they heard God say. Is it any wonder that people like this usually struggle with life? They are miserable and conflicted. It is because they have chosen to self-determine instead of submit to God. Perhaps God's invitation seems too difficult or perhaps they want the glory of sacrifice without ever truly making the sacrifice. Whatever the reason, they assume that God won't mind their disobedience.

Not only do people not heed the voice of God, they hide their own self-centered desires and actions behind God. God gets the blame for a lot of evil actions. We justify our sin by saying "God told me...."

While God is deeply good and His heart is toward me, I must yield to Him. To be in His kingdom implies that He is King. As a righteous King, He deals severely with unrighteousness. To those who resist Him, He becomes their enemy.

We live in perilous times. Safety is found only in the place of yielding to God and His ways. Abundant life comes only as we submit to Him. Do not believe for a minute that you can negotiated with Him. He is God - you are not!