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Love and Punishment


And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished....” (Exodus 34:6-7a)

 

       How would you describe God? For me, the 3 "omnis" come to mind: omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient. Today's passage is God's non-visual selfie. It begins with "the Lord" repeated. Repetitions in Hebrew literature tend to indicate emphasis. God isn't just any lord, He is the Lord on an order of magnitude.  On a scale of 1 to 10, He's a hundred, or a million, or infinity. "Lord of lords" might be another way to express this.
        After expressing His loftiness...His grandeur... His transcendence, He immediately expresses His closeness... His immanence. He is compassionate and gracious and slow to anger. These aren't things He does. They are things He is. The things He does come next: He maintains love, forgives, and punishes.
     This is where  some people get confused.  They believe that punishment is inconsistent with compassion, grace, and slow anger. They don't associate punishment with love, faithfulness or forgiveness, but punishment is connected with these things.
     Imagine what it would be like if every time you did something, no one responded or even noticed. What would it be like if nothing you did or said mattered? Imagine, you kill someone and ten minutes later you meet them on the street. They have no injuries, no memory of your having done anything. You steal something, and before you can blink, the person from whom you stole it has it again. Unless there are real consequences for actions, including punishment, you don't exist. You aren't real and what you do isn't real. For God to love, He must also treat you as real and your actions as having consequences, whether good or bad.
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On the Calendar: St. Patrick's Day



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