My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.
The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.
The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.
May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.
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| GOD OF LOVE AND PEACE |
| 2 Corinthians 13:11 Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you |
| I was born before the hippy movement, and I will admit it – I wore bell bottom blue jeans in my high school years. I listened to the music, took part in the rejection of a stiff conservative culture and experimented with mind altering drugs. Even to this day, the music catches me and takes me back to “good” intentions and a carefree attitude. The cultural revolution was breaking forth on the western world and it’s impact on our society has been catastrophic. One example will suffice, for I do not want to delve too deep in the problem and not consider our Lord in this post. Back in the day there was a popular song about the sharing of land. Maybe I’ll be there to share the land That they’ll be givin’ away When we all live together, we’re talkin’ ’bout together, now As a teenager, who could argue of the merits of such a culture, where all are sharing and there is togetherness, love and peace? I listened to this song a while back, and realized it was normalizing a socialist / communist condition, describing it as full of togetherness, with peace and love. A culture that provides love and peace without God. What I was experiencing was a relentless barrage of this message, along with a complete twisting of what true love and peace really is. Lust was called love, and forced pacifism (by the end of a gun) was named peace. This is not the message of the Word, and it certainly does violence to the name of God we are considering if these twisted messages are considered when we read of the God of love and peace. The God of love represents the very opposite of lust, of the unbridled release of the wants and desires of a sin sick heart, of a self satisfying seeking of all things no matter the damage causes. The God of love provides motivation and strength to live a life of constraint, of be self controlled, to consider others instead of being a slave to our needs and wants. The God of peace provides the believer a calm in the midst of a storm, a freedom of the soul in the midst of trials, a release of concern over those circumstances that are beyond our control. The world tried to convince me of the benefits of its definition of love and peace. It only took a few years of following after that elusive promise that I realized it was an empty, hollowed out promise that provided disappointment, despair and eventually death. And then one day, a young lady asked if I would like to sit with her on a bus ride to Toronto. As we spoke, she testified of Jesus, and of His saving actions in her life. She had recently been in a car crash that should have taken her life, but the God of love and peace preserved her. The God of love and peace kept her so she could introduce me to this same God, the God of love and peace that shattered my understanding of love and peace. No longer did the message of lust and pretend peace have control over my thoughts, and my outlook on life took a complete turnaround. Do you understand God as a God who allows lust and provides a pretend peace? Consider who the God of love and peace is, for He is a self sacrificing God, a God who considers others first, who came to serve and to give His life for others. To understand the gospel is to be shocked at the difference between the message of the world and the message of the Messiah, for He is the very embodiment of who the God of love and peace is. And the world crucified Him as they sought their “love and peace”. |
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
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