The God Who Transforms

It was St. Athanasius who said the cross was the only form of death he knew where you did with arms outstretched. See the cross as the story of a God who looks at you as he stretches his arms upon the cross and declares, “Want to know how much I love you? I love you this much!”

If God believes in goodness, kindness, generosity, and peace, then he must hate evil, stinginess, mean-spiritedness, oppression, and animosity. You can’t be for something without being against its opposite. A God who could care less about sin, evil, and corruption is no God at all—powerless against darkness—and can never be trusted to mold us into people after His image. How could he be a God who makes righteous judgments if he allows unrighteousness to flourish?

In short, if there is a God—who truly loves us—he must not only be generous and kind; he must also be a consuming fire.

Don’t you love a good dinner table? Table is where you tell stories; it’s where you share stories. And who you eat with tells me a lot about your story. The self-righteous and well-to-do tried to think up the worst thing they could say about Jesus. And here is what they came up with: “this man welcomes sinners and eats with them” (Luke 15:2). This is the fifth lesson in our series “The Good and Beautiful God.”

My God pursues the saved. He pursues the lost. He even pursues the betrayer. He’s not the God who is always angry with you. He’s not the God who abandons you. He’s not the God who only loves you when you please him. He’s a lover who will fight for every single person made in His image, who will fight for his bride, and who will run after every lost soul—even you. Lesson 5 in our “Good and Beautiful God” series.

What do you do when you don’t feel like you have enough? Just picture the game musical chairs, and describe what happens when the music stops. But how would we be different—how relaxed would we feel, how open would we be, if we didn’t operate from a condition of scarcity, but rather, from great abundance? It would look like the kingdom of God. Lesson 4 in the “Good and Beautiful God” Series.

Our God is faithful, when we are faithless. He is trustworthy, when all else fails. And God is coming back to rescue his people. He said he would. And He will do it. Part 3 in our “Good and Beautiful God” Series.

We sing it. We read it. But do we believe it? When we claim God is “good,” what do we mean by it? In this lesson, I explore goodness as where justice and mercy meet. Justice is coming (which is good news for the oppressed), but God through Christ has willingly bore the penalty of the oppressor, and wants every one at His table. Ultimate justice and unfathomable mercy meet in our God. Part 2 of our “Good and Beautiful God” series.

Close your eyes. Picture God. What do you see? Now focus on the emotions welling up inside you. What do you feel? Where did that image and those emotions originate? How you view God determines how you see yourself and everything else in the world. It might be time for new lenses. Lesson 1 in the series “A Good and Beautiful God.”