Day 2673 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge. Romans 2:4. Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? NIV
I think one of the biggest problems facing our society is that we’ve learned to see things like kindness and patience as signs of weakness. We see so many people out here yelling and protesting and looting and setting things on fire and we assume that they’re the ones with the power. We’ve fallen for this lie that it’s always the ones who are loudest that have the most authority. We think that in order for someone to make a difference or do something that has meaning they must do it in the loudest and boisterous way possible because that’s what gets noticed.
Yet then we look at God and this idea of faith and we don’t see that. We don’t see Him thundering away at the evil in our world. We don’t see Him splitting the earth open to swallow the wicked like He’s done in the past. We don’t see fire raining from the heavens or plagues of Biblical proportions. We don’t really see any sign of His anger or hear any whisper of His wrath or even notice any hints of His existence at all. And so many people have taken that lack of noise and action to mean that either He isn’t really there at all or that He doesn’t give a rip about what we do.
And it’s blatantly obvious that many have adopted that mindset because many are continuing to live in sin without giving it a second thought. Folks have either ignored the need to repent or looked at it, thought it over, and come to the conclusion that maybe it’s just something they’ll get to down the road after they’ve had their fun. Fun is more important right now. Enjoyment is more important. Pleasure is more important. Being in control and squeezing every drop of this wicked kind of freedom they possibly can is more important.
And all the while, this God that they willingly choose to ignore is still there, still watching, still keeping track of every word, every thought, every action. But because we don’t see Him act, we assume that His anger hasn’t been stirred up yet. We assume that His kindness is still holding sway over His vengeance. We assume that His lack of any kind of display of power is a testament that the ball is in our court and we have more say than we really do. We’ve gotten it in our minds that God’s just really nice and will let us do as we please and all we have to do at some point is toss out a quick ‘I’m sorry’ and all’s good.
But as we talked about yesterday, taking God’s patience as a sign of weakness is foolish. Thinking that He doesn’t really care all that much about sin is foolish. Thinking that He’s just going to allow all this wickedness to continue forever is foolish. Assuming that we’ll only get a slap on the wrist or a stern talking to is foolish. Living our lives as if God isn’t the Almighty who has the power to destroy is foolish. Allowing ourselves to take this time to repent and change and do better for granted is foolish because friends, time runs out.
You know, I saw a report yesterday about the percentage of people in this country that believe in God and how the numbers have shown the largest decrease in years. 81% of adults believe in God. Something like 68% of young people say they believe in God. Only 42% say they believe that God can hear prayers and act upon them. So it’s clear that as we go along, each generation is believing less and less. I guess it’s just because as we go along, things down here continue to unravel and get worse and again, people take that downfall to mean that God either isn’t there or doesn’t care.
Somewhere along the line, we forgot the value and purpose of God’s kindness and patience. We forgot that there’s a reason He hasn’t just unleashed His righteous fury on the earth. We forgot that maybe it has something to do with us. We forgot that maybe He’s holding back in order to give people as much time as possible to see the error in their ways and repent of their sinful choices. We forgot that God’s kindness is meant to lead us to something better, not make us comfortable where we are. But, that’s exactly the folly that we’ve apparently fallen for.
As we discussed yesterday, God’s wrath will be unleashed on the unbelieving and unrepentant. His fury will be felt by those who scorn His call to repent and ignore His offer of salvation. Hell will in fact be the eternal residence of those who deny Christ and live it up in sin without ever stopping to realize they’ve messed up. Yet out of His kindness, He sent Christ to give us that warning and open a door to a better eternal destination. But friends, it’s our choice. He offers salvation, but He won’t force us to accept. And judging by how things are going, sure seems like many just aren’t interested in accepting that gift and changing their ways.
It’s one of those things that isn’t surprising yet is still truly heart-breaking. To know what awaits folks who avoid Him and deny Him and doubt Him and to see them laugh off the warnings is mind-blowing. This idea that God’s quietness and patience reveal His weakness is about as foolish and dangerous as it gets. As we mentioned yesterday, He’s still the God of the Bible. He’s still the God of the Old Testament. He’s still got fire and brimstone in His storehouses. He still has the keys to the gates to hell. He still has every intention to justify Himself through the unleashing of His wrath upon the evil in this world.
It isn’t something to laugh or joke about. It’s not some half-hearted warning. It isn’t a loosely held belief that we Christians try to use to make people act a certain way. It’s not some story that someone cooked up to scare folks into being good. Every word of Scripture is true, every warning is real, and every promise will be fulfilled. And friends, we simply cannot afford to live as if He’s just some weak God that would never actually punish people for doing wrong. He is righteous and He calls us to be righteous. He is holy and He calls us to be Holy. He is the author of truth and He calls us to repent for all the times we’ve ignored that truth and tried to live according to our own.
Now I know that not everyone will listen. Not everyone will care. Not everyone will believe. But He is giving everyone the chance to take Him up on His gift of salvation because He does truly love us. But folks, He is still a righteous God and He will prove as much one day. While He does loves every single person, there still has to be justice and He’s on that throne for a reason!
God is patient, but eventually, patience runs out. Now Moses may have been able to talk Him down a couple of times back in the Old Testament days. Jesus’ death on that cross atoned for the sins of those who choose to repent and turn and live better lives according to His will. But sin is still running wild in this world, and that sin will mean the eternal suffering of everyone who thinks this is a joke and refuses to change their ways. Do not laugh this off or assume that the lack of noise and action from above means that He can’t do anything about it. He definitely can, and once we see Him doing so, it’ll be too late to realize just how serious He is and how serious we should have taken His warnings about living on the wrong side of right.
A storm is coming. And while we may not see the clouds starting to spin or feel the winds gradually pick up, it’s what we can’t see that we can’t prepare for. Thankfully, He is offering us shelter from that storm. He is more powerful than we could ever begin to imagine. And right now, we have a chance to build a relationship with Him through repentance and faith, but how much we time no one knows. Do not wait because as big and strong and loud as we may be, we’re ants to Him and we’d be wise to accept His mercy while we still can.
