It is a common thing in the life of believers to be confronted with a part of God they don’t like. It is inevitable, actually. You will be confronted with part of God’s character that makes you want to turn your back on Him. There are several possible reactions to this, but a couple are common. Some people actually quit. The way of following God becomes too difficult and they say, “Sorry, I’m out.” Then there are others who just refuse to believe God could be like that, so they change their doctrine and search and find a theology they like and just stick with that one – usually either coming up with very interesting arguments as to how the Bible says something different than it actually says, or they just begin to discredit the Bible altogether, a convenient way to justify a belief in anything they might want to believe.
But true disciples confront these truths and are changed by them. They allow themselves to be separated from their own life by the truth.
The difference in true disciples and other believers many times begins at the outset of their conversion (or a similar adjustment is made along the way). Disciples begin with, “No matter what happens, there is nowhere else for me to go but God”; or as Peter says when Jesus gives a hard teaching and many left Him, “Where else can we go? You have the words of life.” They have repented not just of what they have done but who they are and realize that there is no other avenue or source of truth and life but Jesus.
Other believers, however, begin with a litmus test to see if they want to follow at all. They look at the ingredient list of who God is and say, “Hmn. Yeah, sounds neat. Think I’ll try this out.” It can actually be way more emotional than I just expressed, but the basis is one of “I like this, so I’m in.”
But God isn’t God because you like Him. Truth isn’t true because you agree with it. Truth separates, divides. “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Jesus says, “I came not to bring peace but a sword.” Jesus says a lot of things we like to explain away. He makes it clear that following Him will, by necessity, include a loss of your own life, one way or the other, and a division from your culture, your family, and even your previous source of life in this world. “You must be born again.”
Most of the bad doctrine today comes from people trying to separate parts of God from Himself. They believe certain aspects are by nature mutually exclusive, so how could they exist in one God? So we get divisions of sovereignty and free will, wrath and mercy, forgiveness and judgment, Lordship and Savior. People pick sides and begin whole ministries and movements based on these things.
Paul tells us in Romans to “Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God; on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you will also be cut off.”
To teach the goodness without the severity is to teach an untruth, to teach a lie. The same God who sent His only Son to die and showed us His love through that sacrifice, also shows His love by sending natural disasters and famines to judge peoples and nations.
We get uncomfortable with these things, but the Bible is clear. The coming of the New Covenant does not change His character, either in goodness or severity. Hebrews (on the two covenants): “See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven.” If anything, God is shown as infinitely more good … and infinitely more severe.
But we think we push people away if we say these things, our time and culture are different, yada yada yada. Believing and living truth is not based on how others perceive us, nor on how we relate to our culture, but on how He perceives us. At least, that is true for a true disciple. We must understand that both compassion and fear are appropriate measures. Jude: “On some have compassion, making a distinction; but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.” 2 Corinthians: “Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.”
Ultimately, the point is that we cannot separate characteristics of God from other characteristics of Himself. They are indivisible from one another. Just like a cake. It has been mixed and prepared and baked. You can’t unmix it or unbake it. It is what it is. If there is an ingredient you don’t like, you must reject the whole thing.
It is the same with God. He isn’t changing. He cannot change. He is who He is. We are the ones who must change. We must renew our minds according to truth. God doesn’t have to meet our standards and will not. We must meet His.
But those who are true disciples kinda know this. They don’t like it, but they keep following and let the truth set them free, change them, renew them, redeem them.
More on disciples and believers soon …
Peace.