I’ve noticed that many times when discussing spiritual matters many people bring up the seeming contradiction between what they see as the “God of love and forgiveness” of the New Testament and the “God of wrath and punishment” of the Old Testament.  Some people have a hard time reconciling this.  Similarly, some people have a hard time with the thinking that no sin is unforgivable in the eyes of our God who loves infinitely.  And many times these people quote Old Testament scripture to support their thinking.

But let’s listen to what we hear today in Old Testament scripture. In Micah chapter 7 we hear of a God who does not “persist in anger” but a God who “delights in clemency”, a God who “treads our guilt underfoot” and “casts all of our sins into the depths of the sea”.

Jesus himself, in one of his most profound utterances, tells us that he came into the world to save, not to condemn.  Our God is a God whose love cannot be contained and has no end.  We find our hope in the fact that we are beloved children of our compassionate, merciful, and forgiving God – a God who sacrificed all in order to save each one of us.

One response to “

  1. Jim Zinsmeister

    Jesus, the embodiment of mercy and love–as well as the One who completed the Old Testament–has the last word here; and for this we should be most grateful. Note: Luke 4: 19 -21.

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