Lot's wife wanted to go back to Sodom, and she turned into a pillar of salt. The time of God's wrath is mentioned in both the old and the new testament. It is a historic event in which God starts to deal directly with the satanic forces and the evil people responsible for the destruction of the earth.How about you, do you think God's mad at you? Do you feel guilty for anything, and you can't seem to get relief? Are you certain your eventual face-to-face meeting with God Almighty is going to be worse than a bad interview at fast-food joint?
A lot of people see God as a "Mad Dad."
If you read the Bible and do a search for the word "Hell," there are only 14 results in the NIV. If you search for Heaven, there are 606. Think about it, Heaven is much more on God's mind than Hell. And there are 42 verses with the phrase "Eternal Life!"
I am not sure why we think that God is mad all the time, or that He is sitting there trying to find us doing things wrong, just so He can whack us. The Bible says quite the opposite - but I suspect that you've read it and don't really believe that. I mean after all you are certain that grace is good, and judgement is bad - aren't you?
A lot of folks didn't have the best father, and I was one of those. Beyond all your own personal "father" experiences; whether good or bad, think about the father that you might have looked up to. What would he have been like? What qualities would he have possessed? What would the best father you could imagine be like?
I hope you'll take a few minutes to visualize the perfect father at the different stages of your life.
You're 3-years-old, and in bed. You hear a strange noise in the faint glimmer of the nightlight and start to cry. What does the perfect father do?
You laying in the bed and you look forward to your dad coming into kiss you good night? When he shows up, what does he say? Is it predicated on your behavior? Would it be different if you broke his favorite electronic gadget that day?
You are on just horsing around and your dad tickles you until you say stop. Was it fun?
You graduate from Kindergarten. What does he do then?
You get in a fight with your sibling, what does the perfect dad do?
You put a baseball through the the neighbor's window, and your dad finds out from Mr. Smith. What does he say to you? What do you say to him?
You scored the winning goal on the football field. What would your dad say then?
You cheated on your income taxes, what would he say now?
You got a promotion at work?
You were divorced?
You were arrested for DWI?
We all make mistakes, and have troubles. That is part of life, and living in a fallen world.
Let me just say that perfect dad, always says the same thing.
Acts 13:38 "I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.
The real problem is that no matter how good God is to us, or how bad we think our lives have become:
Romans 3:12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.
That is why we need the Good News.
Romans 8:39 Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Do you beleive it?
Comments
2> Yes