Unfailing Love and No Excuses

Scripture:

Exodus 34:6-7 "The Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out, 'Yahweh! the Lord! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But I do not excuse the guilty. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren; the entire family is affected - even children in the third and fourth generation'".

Observation:

This scripture is not a person describing God, but God describing God. When you give a self-description, it generally shows how you see yourself, which is the best description possible. God says of Himself that He is full of compassion, mercy, unfailing love. He says He is slow to anger and forgives iniquity, rebellion and sin. He goes on to say that He does not excuse the guilty and lays their sin on their generations.

Application:

God is an incredibly loving God. He loves us, forgives us, blesses us, has compassion on us, ad lavishes His love on us. He has given us access to Him directly. He desires to walk and talk with us as He did with Moses. He longs for a kingdom of priests. At the same time, He is incredibly holy and cannot allow sin into His presence. He does not excuse the guilty. He has made a way for us to be holy through the blood of His Son Jesus. Only by His blood can we be made holy. At the same time, God expects us to live a holy life through the power of Christ. many today teach that Jesus did it all, therefore we can live however we want because Jesus paid for our sins. This is very dangerous teaching because God is holy and unforgiven sin cannot come into His presence. When we sin, we must confess and forsake our sin. He is faithful to forgive and cleanse, but we must do our part.

Prayer:

Lord, You are loving, compassionate, slow to anger, yet holy and righteous. You love us, but don't want us making excuses for our sin. Teach me to walk in holiness and the fear of the Lord. Moses and the children of Israel must have feared you greatly because they saw your anger demonstrated on their enemies. Teach me to walk in holy fear and live a life that doesn't need any excuses.

I Love You Lord,

Jeff