I am finishing a series called Unmasking Godly Character this Sunday. I have spent four weeks talking about Godly Character and have not touched some of my deepest thoughts. Here are some thoughts from my journal over the past two weeks. It is weird to hold back information but I couldn't teach what was spinning in my head through this series. I wanted to deal with the Character of God in regards to salvation. But, God’s character is multifaceted. So, in a nut shell----here is my silence.

The Bible and Christianity begins with God. In fact, some writers have suggested that the real meat of the Bible is just the first four words; everything after that is merely commentary.

The goal of the Bible is not to get you to live a different life; (or to teach you how to have better relationships) the goal of the Bible is to reveal the character and nature of God — by understanding or at least seeing God’s character and nature, we are inspired and drawn into a different kind of life. When I study, I practice a theocentric hermeneutic. That’s a fancy way of saying that, when I read the Bible, my first thought isn’t how should I apply this verse to my life but rather what does this verse teach me about God. After I have this answer I am in a position to apply the verse to my life by asking one simple question: How can I be more like him? In this series, I could not preach what I practice when dealing with my deepest thoughts.

Here was my problem. You can’t swing a stick in the Bible without hitting a verse that talks about how holy God is. It’s everywhere. In fact, some verses don’t just say, “God is holy,” they say, “God is holy, holy, holy.”

Now, when you begin trying to apply that verse to your life, you’re headed for some serious frustration — because we’re not holy. We are not able to understand what "Holy" even is----and outside of the very presence of God it is not within reach for us. From my little understanding---God’s holiness means he can’t have anything to do with impurity. It’s not that God is religiously fussy or uptight — like he gets uncomfortable and has to leave the room when something sinful happens. It’s that God and sin are mutually exclusive — like light and dark. Where one exists, the other is absent.

God can’t have anything to do with impurity on account of his holiness. But we’re shot through with impurities — impure actions, thoughts, motives, you name it. So, you can see how this might be a problem, right?

Now, here’s where I think we often get off track in explaining what Christianity is and what Christians believe.

We understand that God is holy, but he’s not only holy. He’s other things, too. The characteristics of God we choose to focus on after his holiness lead us to present this need for salvation in a particular way.

For example, if we move from God’s holiness to God’s wrath (because God is holy, he gets angry at impurities), well, we’re likely to say that salvation is being spared from God’s wrath which will be poured upon people in hell.

If, however, we move from God’s holiness to God’s love (because God is holy, he longs to love us but cannot because we’ve separated ourselves from him), well, we’re likely to say that salvation is being saved from that separation, bringing us into a relationship where God can lavish his love upon us.

If we move from God’s holiness to God’s power, we’re likely to say that salvation is being saved from our own helplessness and empowered to live with a whole new operating system.

You can see how this has implications. God’s character is multifaceted. The characteristics we choose to focus on most will determine the way we present the need for salvation and its implications.

Question: Why do so many focus on his wrath but not his mercy? On the other hand, why do some folks tend to soft-sell his wrath? Which characteristic do you think should follow holiness?