Who is God?

The Bible’s message is that God has chosen to reveal himself to us in and through Jesus. Without God’s  revelation of himself we would be doomed to stumble around in the darkness and we would never get to know God at all.

The God of the  Bible does not stand in a long line next to all the other gods, trying to sell his good points and desperately waiting for us to choose him. Just the opposite! The message of the Bible is that God has decided to choose us. It is God who takes the initiative. It is God who makes it possible for us to know him.

How do we fit into the picture?

The Bible says that God has chosen to reveal himself to us because He loves us. Now let us think about ourselves for a bit. We sometimes take it for granted that God should love us. We often think that we deserve it. If God is good and loving, it is his  job, we feel, to love us and look after us. At the same time we are also aware that we are not always very good and full of love in and of ourselves. In fact, few of us would ever claim to be perfectly loving and good. We all know that at times we have treated others badly, choosing to serve our own interests at a cost to others.

What does the Bible say about God?

This is how the Bible describes God. We are told that God is love. Fully and completely love. So perfect in his love that He defines what love is. We need to know God to know what love is – we do not first know love and then try to say how God measures up to it. It is God’s love which sets him apart from everything else. His love is a holy love.  A love which cannot abide evil and selfishness. Another way of describing this is to say that God is light and that there is no darkness in Him.

God’s opposition to all that is evil also puts paid to the idea that God can simply forgive us when we do wrong things. To do so, would mean that God can find some way of saying that our wrongdoings are not really that bad.

Do we have to please God to earn his favour?

The Bible says that there is nothing we can do that will be able to balance out any wrong things that we have done. And because we have all done these wrong things, God has to deal with us: we have to be destroyed.

The good news is that God became a human, in Jesus, and was our scapegoat. In Jesus we encounter the God of love who is for us, so much for us that He was willing to suffer and die in our place.

The Bible tells this story of God who became a historical person, Jesus of Nazareth, who lived on earth in such a way that his first disciples saw the power of God working in and through him. The story depicts Jesus who died  in such a way that his first disciples saw the humility and love of God revealed in and through him. It also tells of his resurrection from the dead, the resurrection of a human being who should have been destroyed forever at the hands of God, and yet was raised again in such a way that humanity could live forever. The story goes on: How He gave his Spirit to come and live within Christians….too much to cover in these few short paragraphs. (Why not read one of the gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke or John if you want to know more?)

This is faith…

To know this God of love and grace we need only trust in Him, trust Him enough to start following him. The Bible calls it faith. Millions of people throughout the ages have done just that and have found that He has revolutionised their lives. If you are in need of knowing this God of love, please do not hesitate to contact us or another evangelical Christian church. (08 92451491)