Note To The Reader: This article is not intended to pick on any religion or any one's freedom to worship, but is a response to a title put out at the Marketplace by a Publisher requesting entries from a Christian Viewpoint.

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The Character Of God / Jesus

The character of God is one that is beyond comprehension. However much man may try to understand the character of God or delve deep into its mysteries, the magnitude and richness of God’s divine character is beyond reasoning and understanding, let alone acceptance.

It is similar to the blind men describing an elephant. Five blind men are placed around an elephant and each of them reach their conclusions. The first says the elephant is like a wall on touching the body of the animal, while another says it is like a fan upon reaching the ear. A third says the elephant is like a rope with reference to the tail while yet another says it is like a snake (trunk). Finally the last one says the elephant is like a pillar having been able to wrap his arms around the legs of the animal.

Such is how man perceives the character of God, yet reaching nowhere close enough to describing the splendor of His divine nature as a whole.

However, just as the blind men get a glimpse of what an elephant is, man’s understanding may be able to describe a few attributes of God’s character. With reference to the Old and New Testaments, we can see God as Love, Powerful, Majestic, Orderly & Strategic, All-good, Provider, Deliverer, Forgiving, in Control, Wise, Truthful, Faithful, Jealous of man’s attention away from Him, Patient, and Holy, to name a few.

Love:

“…God is love. Whoever lives in love, lives in God, and God in him.” 1 John 4:16

God is love. Everything that came about through His Word at the beginning of time and has existed till today is only because of His unending love. God’s creation of the world, creation of man, forgiveness and a promise of hope through Jesus despite man betraying the love and friendship of God, all boil down to the fact that one of the greatest attributes of God’s nature is His inexhaustible love for us. It is this love which takes on the form of patience, goodness, trust, fellowship, friendship, acceptance, sharing, and sacrifice that we see in God. It is out of love that he provides things for us; food, drink, shelter, talents and skills which are from Him and part of Him. God’s unimaginable love has also let us become sons and heirs to his kingdom of love. Whatever man lives through or hopes to achieve can only be based on God’s love for man and how much man accepts or rejects this love. God’s love is free, unconditional, and for everyone.

Orderly & Strategic:

“When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him?“ Psalm 8:3,4

In the book of Genesis of the Old Testament, we see how God created the world. Every day was specific for specific events and the result of which influenced the event of the following day. All the planning, organizing, implementation, strategic studies, integration or deliverance of results that man sets out to do with a dream such as this, can never reach the vastness of God’s planning, skill and orderliness in doing things.

Man has always realized the existence of God and his (man’s) foolish pride has made him rely on the created things rather than the Creator. Yet we see, with divine strategy and planning the sun rises in the East and sets in the West. The moon revolves around the earth and is visible at night along with the stars. The absence of visibility of stars may indicate clouds in the sky during the night, while the moon affects waves and tides necessary for winds and weather conditions. Scientific features like gravity keeps everything within earth’s limits while scientific principles that God uses to create and make things help us also invent and create new things based on the realization or discoveries of these principles which have already been in existence. In everything there is an order and place and credit goes to God.

Powerful:

In the book of Joshua, Chapter 6, we find that God delivers the city of Jericho over to the Israelites. God gave the instructions, Joshua and the high priests followed it and we find that with the might and strength of the Lord, the walls of Jericho cave in. Prior to this, we find that when the Israelites left Egypt and had to cross the Red Sea, God caused the sea to part so as to provide a dry path for the Israelites to pass through. God is all powerful. At His Word kingdoms fall. At His word the enemies are cast into the sea. At His Word, the storms subsides and the seas calm. Such is the power of God. The power of God in God the Spirit made the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk. We find the power of Jesus raising Lazarus and Jairus’ daughter from the dead. God is so powerful that He also shares His power with all those who believe, followed by a promise. “In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” Mark 16:17, 18

Faithful:

It is very hard for man to comprehend the extent to which God is faithful. Every little event in our lives which challenge our faith in God only makes us question his faithfulness to us. Yet, the Lord’s faithfulness is new every morning. He believes in us despite the fact that we betray Him. He forgives us, loves us and picks us up from the dirt every time we fall, only because of His promise to never leave us nor forsake us. Our lack of trust makes us feel that God doesn’t heed our cries and grant us our desires, yet, all things work for good to those that love the Lord, and only because God is faithful to keep His promise. In the book of Jeremiah, Chapter 11: verse 29, the Word of God tells us, “ I have great plans for you. Plans for your welfare and not your destruction. Plans to give you hope and a good future.” This is God’s faithfulness to us, when we choose to love the Lord.

Jealous:

Yes, God is jealous. He is jealous God when we turn our backs on Him and do not give Him the honor and praise that is due His name. He is a jealous God when we love the world instead of Him. He is a jealous God when we idolize and place other people and things in His place, giving everything else reverence, worship and our prayers. God is jealous when we betray the trust He places in each of us to love Him. Anything that makes us turn away from His love earns His wrath, for just like He promises gifts beyond imagination for those who love Him, so also are there curses that follow when man decides to turn away from God’s love.

An ideal example would be when the Israelites left Egypt under the Lord’s protection. Yet, when they were in the desert, they carved for themselves a golden calf and offered up prayers and supplications to it. This angered the Lord. They had aroused His jealousy with their graven images.

Jealousy is a term that is used in the Bible in reference to God’s nature, especially at the time of Moses, when God gave him the Ten Commandments. God has created us to praise Him and like a wife who turns away from her husband, indulging in another relationship, causing him to become jealous, so do we make God jealous by our spiritual failings to live in union with Him.

Ever-present:

The psalmist beautifully sings out to the Lord in Psalm 139, words of praise for God’s divine presence. “If I take the wings of the morning or dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me…” Psalm 139: 9-10

It doesn’t matter where we are, what ever we do or how we live, God is present in and around us. There is nothing that can be done in secret, for with God there is no secrecy. Everything is light before Him and His ever present nature sees all things and understands all things. We may try to hide in the remotest part of the world and still find the presence of God in the morning light or in the setting sun, in the rainbow across the sky or the birds that fly high. Such is the divine character of God; Omnipresent.

There are so many qualities that may be mentioned. God is light. With Him there can be no darkness. God is Holy and pure, in His love there can be no sin. God is the Truth for He is Unchangeable. God is adventurous for He chose to create us despite the fact that he knew ahead of time that we would betray His love. God is the Beginning and the End. With Him time ceases to be, for with the Lord a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. God is peace and in Him there can be no hatred, fights or wars. God is Spiritual and cannot be perceived with all our human faculties, yet felt with our heart. God is Wise; to Him belong wisdom and power, counsel and understanding. God is forgiving. He wipes our slates clean every time we repent with a sincere heart.

The list could go on and on. Every quality that we as humans realize and understand can be compared to God’s divine nature. One of the best descriptions of God is seen in Psalm 27:4. "One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple." Yes, God is beautiful and because He is beautiful each of us is beautiful. How privileged and blessed we are to share in His magnificence and beauty! Truly more than we deserve.

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The Character of God / Jesus

Learn more about this author, Amanda Dcosta.