"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." John 3:16
Reconciling these two verses of scripture..........God being both 'angry' and 'loving' can be confusing but a study of these two 'attributes' of God can clear it up for us. It has been helpful for me to do that so I offer a little of my findings to you here.
My understanding is that God would be denying many of His other attributes if He did not have this attribute of anger.........much as it is not popular or pleasant to think about. How can He be a holy, sinless, just, loving, forgiving God and not also be an angry God. There has to be the one to necessitate the other. If I, as a human, am going to forgive another human, there has to have been an offense and if an offense, there has to be anger and a desire for revenge before there can be a reason to forgive. God, having created me, the human, in His own image (Genesis 1:26), is no different. I have offended Him by being and behaving less than He originally created me to be.....that is.....like Him. (Romans 3:23) I became the object of His anger because of my offenses against Him. (Romans 1:18) But He graciously, because of Christ’s necessary (Romans 6:23) sacrifice on my behalf while I was still in this state of enmity towards God (Romans 5:8) has satisfied God’s anger towards me and we are now friends. (Colossians 1:21,22)
Thank You God for being ALL of who You are and I accept and follow You as I understand You to be...........both angry and forgiving. I accept Your forgiveness for my sins, based not on my own goodness but on Your son Jesus’ sacrificial death on my behalf so that we can now have this Father Child relationship (John 1:12) that is helping me to move slowly but surely back into the original image You created me in. You are a good Father/Creator/God to me. I bless You and want to honour Your name today in who I am becoming. Thank You that I don’t have to depend on my own unsteady willpower for that to be accomplished but can do it in Your Almightiness that resides in me through Your holy spirit. Amen
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