Deuteronomy 11

There is no doubt that God is loving.  In fact we are told in the New Testament that God is love – that love is one of his main characteristics.  But often we seem to mistake the kind of love that God embodies with some sort of Hallmark sentiment.  God shows His love by never leaving His people, by always offering grace and forgiveness at the foot of the cross, by never changing His rules or softening them for us.  This last part seems a little counter intuitive doesn’t it.  But it’s not.

If you have ever been a parent, are a parent, have had a parent or have had to act in any way shape or form like a parent (i.e. teacher, uncle, boss, older sister, whatever) you have enforced rules.  In general those rules were in place to maintain some semblance of order and to keep people safe.  They were a tangible way of expressing love.  You didn’t soften them – at least I hope you didn’t – for one child over another or because someone was having a bad day.  Generally there were probably consequences for breaking those rules as well.

 Most of us would never argue with the need for rules and consequences.  But when it comes to God we either don’t want to believe that it works the same way or we have simply misunderstood grace.  God shows His love by establishing standards and then saying He expects us to live up to them.  He also says that there will be consequences for us if we fail.  If we actually love God and want to know the fullness of His love in our lives, we need to show our love by being obedient.  That’s what we expect from our children – so why would God be any different.  When I punish my daughter I still love her – in fact that is one of the ways I show her that I love her.  No matter what we do God will love us – but He will also punish us and potentially exclude us from His presence.  It’s a heavy idea I know, but unless we recognize that then we simply paint a picture of God worthy of a cute greeting card – soft, pliable and sentimental.  And I would never describe the creator of the universe in those terms.