THIS IS NOT A CHRISTMAS DEVOTION!!! You can check my #ChristmasChallenge devotion on my other blog.

My title for this devotion is Love vs Wrath/Justice.

I’ve been reading the past couple of weeks in the book of Jeremiah. (Yeah…zzzzz). Least at times it felt like that. I’m not denigrating God’s Word; it’s just that some parts of it are hard to stick with. But in between these seemingly incredibly long moments of sheer boredom are nuggets of gold.

For instance, one of the hardest qualities for people to grasp is God’s wrath and justice. “Give me a God of love!” we say. And while I prefer the God of love, I’m also highly aware that God is a God of wrath and justice.  He has to be. Just like a parent needs to be a parent of love, he must also be a parent who disciplines and is not happy with some of the actions of the child. Sometimes discipline is called for, even punishment, if rules are broken or hurtful actions are taken.

Let me give you an example from Scripture. “Behold the storm of Lord! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked. The fierce eyes of the Lord will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intentions of his mind.” (Jer.30:23-24)

Then just a few verses later in Jeremiah 31:3 God says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.”

Wrath. Justice. Love. They go hand-in-hand. And most definitely they do in God’s case. I’ll let you work that out in your own mind.

“Father, you are a God of wrath, of justice, and of love. There is no contradiction there. Help me to see how they work in tandem in my own life-helping me to make right choices, correcting me when I don’t, but always loving me.”