God Is Kind
I can honestly testify that I have never been drawn to someone who I knew wanted to take advantage of me and treat me badly. In fact, the opposite was true.
I generally avoid such people and put up boundaries to save them from being tempted to try to treat me in such a way.
No one will be drawn to Jesus if their perspective is that God is out to get them and make them a slave who is to be taken advantage of.
However, the Scriptures do not teach that as being the way God is towards us.
Ephesians 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Here’s what I see when I read this.
God is rich in mercy (Not giving us what we truly deserve due to our missing the mark in our flesh). He’s rich in mercy because of His great love, which is towards us! He wants to show the exceeding riches of His grace (favor) in His kindness towards us in Christ Jesus! He saved us apart from our efforts to be good!
This does not describe a God out to get you and make you suffer for missing the mark. It describes an approachable, kind, merciful, and loving God who desires to bless you with Himself.
I apply this truth concerning God and how He is toward me in a very personal way so that my confidence is bolstered in His goodness and my mind is more easily changed toward Him as opposed to away from Him. This is true about God. He is good all the time. He is kind and loving, merciful and gracious, and faithful to a thousand generations! The prophet Joel said it this way,
Joel 2:13 So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm.
My perspective of Him must match the New Covenant description of His heart toward me in Christ, or I will needlessly be cheated of much of the good and kindness He desires to bring into my life. Our God is kind!
