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God’s Wrath Is Not A Laughing Matter!
We know that God is loving, understanding, and merciful with us. There is no doubt in my mind that this is absolutely true. We sometimes conveniently forget that there are also times where his love, understanding, and mercy demand justice, judgment, and wrath in light of our choices. God’s word is practically set in stone - it will not change. God gave us free will so that we may freely choose to obey his laws, or disobey them in light of what we know. If we choose to disobey the word of God, even when we know better, we need to be prepared to suffer the consequences of our actions. Purposely not listening to the truth of the word of God is not an alternative to choosing whether or not we obey. Personally, it reminds me of being lukewarm because we are attempting to dodge a choice that ultimately needs to be made in our lives. We need to decide whether or not we serve God with all our hearts, or serve our own selfish desires instead. There is no in between that is acceptable, in fact the word of God is clear on this topic. (See V*1).
We can clearly see in these verses, if we apply it to ourselves, that God insists that we at least make a clear choice. We need to exclusively be for or against Him, not choosing to be Christians for the sake of the title and then doing totally different with our lives. This doesn’t mean we need to all be perfect, ideal Christians – in fact only Jesus Christ Himself was a perfect human being – but it does mean that we need to try our best to mature in faith and try our best to avoid the sins that tend to plague our lives. If I know I struggle with a specific addiction for example, I should take steps to further myself from the temptation of said addiction in order to avoid falling into the schemes of the Devil.
Essentially we need to repent of our sins and rectify our lives if our goal is to delight God and try to avoid His wrath. There are a variety of measures we can take to start doing this in our lives today. The first, and perhaps most basic way, is to avoid judging others harshly. Remember that God will also judge us based on how we judge others here on Earth. (See V*2 & V*3). I know that I need to rectify many things in my own life before I can help others overcome them as well. That is why I include myself when I write these articles, I do not claim to be free from wrongdoing, but I do try my best to fight the good fight of faith and delight God in the process.
Another important concept to understand is that sinful behaviors bring about God’s wrath, but they may be collecting for a specific day of wrath and judgment from God. (See V*4). For example, we may be stuck in the same habitual sins and deciding for ourselves that since we do not see ourselves being corrected by God that we must be getting away with it. This couldn’t be any further from reality. The truth is clear that according to these sets of verses, God doesn’t play favorites. Our salvation is secure if, and only if, we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. Beyond that choice, however, we will receive judgment or rewards in light of our actions. I know that as far as I am concerned, I want to be more than a hearer of the word. I absolutely want to be a doer of the word, because those who accomplish God’s will - the doers of the law - will be declared righteous!
It is also of great importance that we do not suppress the truth of God’s word by our unrighteous actions. If we set a bad example for other individuals to stumble, or perhaps even worse if we perpetuate a false doctrine or purposely try to mislead people away from God – we would be in dire trouble. (See V*5). We can see that God has serious punishment in store for those that try to suppress truth.
I think the take home message is that we should ideally live according to God’s plan. We should treat time as a precious and scarce resource. It is with great urgency that I feel like I need to do things for God. I rather do things that further his kingdom, rather than further my own selfish motives. I also feel like each additional day of life he gives us is another day of his mercy and grace extended out to us that still need to repent and rectify our lives for the better. I hope you all feel the same way after praying about these kinds of issues. Remember, we’re all in this situation together, and we need to give each other a word of encouragement or a hand of help from time to time.
Take a few minutes to pray about what we’ve uncovered in this article, and I am sure God will place His special motives in your heart that will encourage you to turn things around for the better in a variety of aspects of your life. As always I hope you all keep Jim and I in your prayers, as we continue to set out to deliver God’s message out to the world through this website. Please share the site with someone who needs encouragement and guidance from a biblical perspective whenever you get a chance. God bless you all!
- Victor Nunez
Biblical References:
V*1- To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Originator of God’s creation says: 15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of My mouth. Revelations 3:14-16 (HCSB)
V*2- Therefore, anyone of you who judges is without excuse. For when you judge another, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things. 2 We know that God’s judgment on those who do such things is based on the truth 3 Do you really think – anyone of you who judges those who do such things yet do the same – that you will escape God’s judgment? Romans 2:2-3 (HCSB)
V*3- Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged. 2 For with the judgment you use, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the log in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye, and look there’s a log in your eye? 5 Hypocrite! First take the log out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. Matthew 7:1-5 (HCSB)
V*4- Or do you despise the riches of his kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hardness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed. 6 He will repay each one according to his works 7 Eternal life to those who by patiently doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; 8 but wrath and indignation to those who are self-seeking and disobey the truth, but are obeying unrighteousness; 9 affliction and distress for every human being who does evil, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek; 10 but glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. 11 There is no favoritism with God. Romans 2:4-11 (HCSB)
V*5- For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Romans 1:18 (HCSB)