Last week, I referred to a “Pastor To Pastor” article by Gregg Allison and Chris Castaldo, authors of the book The Unfinished Reformation: What Unites and Divides Catholics and Protestants After 500 Years. In their article, they list 16 traits of God that we all should agree on. These traits remind me of how great a God we serve.
The second eight traits of God are:
- Truthfulness and faithfulness, God always tells the truth and always fulfills his promises;
- love, God always gives of himself, God continues to love even when we are hostile toward Him, God’s love is demonstrated in the sending of his Son to die for sinful people;
- Goodness/grace/mercy/patience, God is kind and benevolent, He is good in and of Himself, all His ways in creation, providence, and salvation are good, God expresses His grace and mercy to people who deserve condemnation, God is slow to anger;
- Holiness, God is exalted above creation and absolutely morally pure, God is completely pure and uncorrupted by sin;
- Righteousness/justice: God is absolutely righteous and acts in ways that are perfect, God is just in establishing moral standards and requiring conformity to them, God judges people’s obedience and disobedience;
- Jealousy, God is protective of his honor, God is worthy of ultimate allegiance, we were made to honor God, when we honor something or someone else, God is provoked to jealousy;
- Wrath, God hates sin and is ready to punish it fully, because God is holy, He cannot approve sin, because God is righteous, God punishes violations of His standards; and
- Glory, God is infinitely beautiful, God’s magnificent splendor shines from His revelation and His ways.
Think about these traits of God. What a mighty God we serve!
Bro. David