God's But
Normally when we use the word "but" look out, because here it comes. The bad news, some critical remark, or something negative usually follows our "but". Not with God thought. More often than not God moves us from the bad news to the good news. In this case, He interrupts our bad with His good. It's as if He is awakening us from a nightmare. However, this wasn't a bad dream it was a bad reality. Here we get the bad news first. It's our worst fear realized. We awaken to find ourselves in a hopelessly situation. We can't do anything to help our situation or change it. We can make it worse but not better.
"But God" brings a ray of hope. He couldn't stand by and let us be completely destroyed by our sin. It's the situation of great movies. We're about to be destroyed. There is no way out. But at the last moment, you hear the bugle, you hear a shot from out of nowhere, someone flashes onto the scene and you're rescued.
There is a time in every person's life when God wants to interrupt. It's that point when it pleases God to interrupt our sin and rescue us from our bad reality (Gal. 1:15-16).
What causes God to step in, to take action? It's the richness of His mercy and the greatness of His love. He is so rich in mercy that He has to do mercy. His love is so great that His love compels Him to action. To God, love is an action word. There is nothing passive about the love of God. His love refused to leave us in our hopelessness. Even though we were “by nature children of wrath”, we became objects of His great love.
The word translated “richness” means “to be filled.” His mercy then is inexhaustible for those who want to experience it. You can experience His mercy without end. His wrath that should have been ours was poured out on Christ in full. There no longer remains any wrath for us because Christ bore it on the cross. All that remains for those in Christ is mercy and love.
"But God" brings a ray of hope. He couldn't stand by and let us be completely destroyed by our sin. It's the situation of great movies. We're about to be destroyed. There is no way out. But at the last moment, you hear the bugle, you hear a shot from out of nowhere, someone flashes onto the scene and you're rescued.
There is a time in every person's life when God wants to interrupt. It's that point when it pleases God to interrupt our sin and rescue us from our bad reality (Gal. 1:15-16).
What causes God to step in, to take action? It's the richness of His mercy and the greatness of His love. He is so rich in mercy that He has to do mercy. His love is so great that His love compels Him to action. To God, love is an action word. There is nothing passive about the love of God. His love refused to leave us in our hopelessness. Even though we were “by nature children of wrath”, we became objects of His great love.
The word translated “richness” means “to be filled.” His mercy then is inexhaustible for those who want to experience it. You can experience His mercy without end. His wrath that should have been ours was poured out on Christ in full. There no longer remains any wrath for us because Christ bore it on the cross. All that remains for those in Christ is mercy and love.
