When I was 26 and in College I had a classmate in Design class that said something pretty interesting to me about God. She said that most people are imbalanced in regards to God. Some just see God as judging, angry, filled with wrath and a pretty scary person that makes people want to just run the other direction. This God is only about justice. It would seem that a lot of people reject God or the notion of God because of these ideas.
Then there are others who only see God as love. From their stand point because God is only about love, then He understands everything they do, never judges, so nothing is good or bad, wrong or right etc. He is all mercy and compassion. This God has become the most popular in recent years. In some religions and spiritual paths God isn't even a person anymore, but a power that we can control and manipulate as we please.
Then she said that God was the balance of both. Yes He is love, he is merciful, compassionate etc. but also that He is just, He does judge He does expect us to act in goodness, love, righteousness. There are standards in which He wants people to live up to, or at least try to. That He does feel angry when people sin and hurt themselves or others.
Both are true, and both are what God is. At the time I definitely didn't want to hear this. I balked at what she said and dismissed it, because I didn't want to think God judged me, that there was a good and a bad, a right and a wrong. I wanted to see God as only love and accepting of whatever I did. No judgment or consequences. Even though I dismissed what she said, it always stayed with me. Now 20 years later I have come to an understanding, and experience of God, that validates exactly what she said. She was right. I now know that she was speaking the truth about God back then. I probably knew it in my spirit but didn't want to admit it then. To live in true happiness in our spirits, having this understanding of God is paramount. If we are imbalanced one way or the other we are not having a full relationship with him.
It is important that we understand the whole truth of God not just a partial one. Seeing God as only an angry, scary, judgmental tyrant definitely will make us run away, want to deny his existence, will hamper us from having a true connection with him. Seeing him only as love, a love that is easy going, overly permissive, with no standards of how we are to live then really allows the adversary into our lives. We can see how that goes when we are around parents who treat their children this way.
Much like having a passive parent, we then are vulnerable to the dark, destructive things in life getting a hold on us, luring us into thinking that all is well, as we are being slowly pulled down into spiritual and even temporal suffering. By understanding that God does have standards of goodness we are to follow and live by, we are then kept quite safe if we truly dedicate our selves to following these standards. We aren't perfect and will slip up for sure, but at least if our intention is there, then we do have the potential to live the best lives we were born to live. God knows are intentions and knows if we have the intention of living righteously or not, He will help us through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
He does love us and wants us to have the greatest happiness we can have. That is true love. Love that knows what is good and what is not, and knows we are happiest when we live in goodness. I am finding that understanding this balance is really helping me have a close intimate relationship with God, and also is helping me to live the best life I can live. It is helping me to live in goodness.
We do cause a distance with God when we live outside goodness, righteousness, the commandments He has laid out for us. But God wants us to be close and wants us to feel close just as any parent does. The closeness is up to us, how sincere and pure our intentions are make the difference. Understanding that God is our Father in Heaven, that He is goodness and can truly accept nothing less, and that He will help us succeed in living in goodness if we are sincerely trying to. He does not want us to suffer, perish, get lost, be separated from Him. He wants us to have the most loving relationship with Him as possible. We want that too. This is our greatest desire in our spirits. If we can remember this, we will live in a way that truly brings us close to Him. The things we struggle with that keep us feeling separate we can seek spiritual help for.
That is good news!
Today I understand the balance of God being both love and justice. I sincerely have the intention to live in the goodness, commandments and standards that God has for us. As I struggle with certain parts of this, I seek the help and healing of the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ.
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