Psalm 119:137

Righteous art Thou, O Lord, and upright are Thy judgments.


In Scripture we see two sides to God: One is His loving, compassionate, caring side. He is the God who created us and made the supreme sacrifice to offer us eternal life.

Then there is the God of holiness, the God of wrath; the God who judges sin.

I'm afraid the Church today has lost the balance on the teeter-totter between these two sides to God's nature. Too often we emphasize His love and forget that He is just and righteous; He will not tolerate sin.

I don't think we talk enough today about sin and its consequences. The Bible tells us the penalty for sin is hell. These are not popular concepts in our culture of tolerance.

Hell isn't in style today because it represents a couple of things that are repugnant. It represents accountability to someone in authority, and we want to avoid authority. And it represents absolute eternal judgment. We have a difficult time believing that such a place could exist, and we don't want to really believe that everlasting punishment and torment is a reality. And when we no longer see the eternal retribution of our sins, we lose any urgency for repenting of those sins.

So we don't talk much about hell to our children, extended family or our friends.

But hell is real.

To the Greeks, the distance between the bull's-eye and where the arrow hit was known as "the sin." It meant to fall short of the ideal. To sin means to "miss the mark."

God is patient, but He is not tolerant. He is holy. His justice calls for an atonement (a payment, a penalty) for man's sins. Our children must have some understanding that their sins can keep them out of heaven. Their sins must be paid for. And that is what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross.

Psalm 99:9

Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at his holy hill; for the Lord our God is holy.

Betty loved the old church. She had come to its sanctuary since she had been a young girl, and that was a long time gone, indeed. The place was special. Betty had always been filled with awe whenever she stood in the church. From the moment she entered the door, she felt God's presence. This church was a holy place. She felt closest to God when she felt the special magic of the old church. It was easy to worship God there.

We need reminders to help us understand God's holiness. Truly, only He is worthy to be praised, and yet we so often act as if there's nothing special about God at all. There is no life in our prayers, we decided to skip church, or we ignore opportunities to share Christ with those around us. Our actions say, "No big deal." It is a big deal. God is the biggest deal of our lives. Everything we do should exalt the Lord and show others just how important He is to us. Anytime we can experience the holiness and majesty of the Lord, we should jump at the chance. Nothing pleases God more.