A happy result of being in relationship with Dave is that it has helped me become more patient and easygoing too. So just imagine what spending time with God can do for you!
Many men and women throughout the Bible made it their mission to know God. Paul actually called it “his determined purpose” (see Philippians 3:10). King David said what he wanted most in life was to seek God and behold the wonders of His beauty (see Psalm 27).
The word seek means “to crave, pursue and go after.” By seeking God for themselves, Paul and David came to know the essence of His character. They fell deeply in love with God and wanted to be like Him.
We can also fall deeply in love with Him if we choose to seek Him in our lives.
Today I want to share with you one aspect of God’s character that I’ve come to know and love. It has helped me tremendously in my relationship with Him, with myself and with other people. It is simply this: God is the God of justice.
God Makes Wrong Things Right
If you have heard me share my testimony before, then you probably know that in the early years of my life, I had a lot of things happen to me that were totally unjust and unfair. I was sexually abused by my father, abandoned by my mother, and repeatedly rejected by my first husband who ended up leaving me for another woman.
My life was a complete mess then, and it stayed a mess until I turned my life over to God. Then, little by little, He began to bring justice into my life.
God wants justice for all of us. He wants to be that hero in our lives who makes wrong things right. And He does even better than that. His Word actually says that He gives us double for our trouble.
Isaiah 61:7-8 says, Instead of your [former] shame you shall have a twofold recompense; instead of dishonor and reproach [your people] shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double [what they had forfeited]; everlasting joy shall be theirs. For I the Lord love justice…and I will faithfully give them their recompense in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant or league with them.
When we are wronged, God asks us to forgive quickly and completely. We need to allow Him to be our vindicator. When we do, we can be assured that God will bring justice in our life.
I encourage you to seek God’s Word for wisdom and comfort. Bring your wounds before God in prayer and ask Him to fill you up with an overflowing of His love so you can forgive those who have mistreated you. Through that experience, you will come to know God more than ever before. And He will make you more loving and forgiving, like Him.
The Flip Side of God’s Justice
There’s another side to the justice of God that we need to know about: We can’t mistreat anybody else and get by with it.
Of all the people Jesus talked to in a firm way, it was the religious people―the people who said one thing and did something else. The churchgoers who led sloppy lives behind closed doors. He called them “whitewashed tombs” because they looked good on the outside but on the inside, were filled with dead men’s bones (see Matthew 23:27).
There was a time in my life when I was a hypocrite. I’d shout in church praising God, acting like I had it all together, but at home, behind closed doors, I was terrible to live with.
We need God to change us. We need to want Him to change us instead of making excuses for bad behavior.
Thankfully, when we do wrong things, God doesn’t just let us get by with it. It’s not because He wants to punish us. It’s because He loves us too much to let us live that way.
The Bible says God chastens us and tells us our faults because He loves us (Hebrews 12:6). And we need to change and do whatever it takes to straighten things out in our relationship with God because one day, we will all stand before Him and give an account of our life (see Romans 14:12).
God knows your heart. He’s merciful. He’s full of grace and love. He’s long-suffering. God knows we will never stop making mistakes, and still blesses us and is good to us and forgives us time after time. We also need to be good and gracious and loving to other people.
I like the fact that God is fair. Not only will He give me double for my trouble, He won’t let me live a junky life and get by with it. That lets me know He loves me.
I encourage you to let God shape you into someone who loves and actually longs for His correction. Because by bending to His will, we can become healed and whole, satisfied and happy.
God Brings Us from Glory to Glory
“ Being in relationship with God has helped me learn and grow as a person, because I'm just not satisfied to stay the way I am. ”
Just as I’ve been positively affected by my relationship with my husband, Dave, being in relationship with God has helped me learn and grow as a person, because I’m just not satisfied to stay the way I am. The fact is, I’m in love with God and I want to be like Him.
I still have a long way to go, but I’ve come a long way. And I’ve learned not to be discouraged about how far I have to go. Instead, I’m excited about how far I’ve come.
Aren’t you glad God calls people who aren’t perfect and then changes us while we’re making the journey?
God is full of mercy, especially when we’re ignorant of our mistakes. But we can open up a whole world of blessings in Christ if we just decide to live a little bit higher.
If you’re going to walk with God for the rest of your journey, get all you can out of your relationship with Him. Be a seeker and you will fall so in love with Jesus that you will put yourself in a position where God can bless you radically and outrageously.
It is only in close relationship with Him that you can live a life that brings glory to His name.
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