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A Faithful Journey to Christ, Bansud (2025)

12/02/2025

𝐒𝐀𝐁𝐁𝐀𝐓𝐇 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐋 𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘

𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝟕: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐄𝐯𝐢𝐥

𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐓𝐞𝐱𝐭: “𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑤𝑖𝑝𝑒 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠; 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑛𝑜 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ, 𝑛𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑤, 𝑛𝑜𝑟 𝑐𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑛𝑜 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑛, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦” (𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝟮𝟭:𝟰, 𝗡𝗞𝗝𝗩).

𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: While we struggle to understand the presence of evil in this world, we must recognize our limitations and approach, with hope, the eventual solution. The Bible contains open questions about the problem of evil. In moments of suffering, it is hard to reconcile God’s love and immense goodness in the presence of evil. In Scripture, we identify characters raising how long questions in reference to suffering, and these questions reveal their expectation of divine action.
Our explanations about the problem of evil are limited. The problem of evil and suffering presents a challenge to humanity. We are encouraged to approach the problem of evil with hope. We should learn to live with unanswered questions about the problem of evil. Sin is an intruder, and no reason can be given to fully explain its presence in our world. God’s love helps us approach the problem with hope.

𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲: “𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐠, 𝐎 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝?”
— The problem with evil is more than a problem we have today. Bible writers talked about the problem in their day, too.

— 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝐽𝑜𝑏 30:26; 𝐽𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑎ℎ 12:1; 𝐽𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑎ℎ 13:22; 𝑀𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖 2:17; 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑃𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑚 10:1. 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑚 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑙? 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑚 𝑎 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒?

— These verses ask many questions that we continue to ask and seek answers for today. Whatever we say about these questions, we must not think that the problem with evil is small or not important. Evil is very bad. God hates evil more than we do.

— 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑀𝑎𝑡𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑤 27:46. 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑑𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠’ 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒? 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑑𝑜 𝐻𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑢𝑠 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑙 ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑡𝑠 𝐺𝑜𝑑, 𝑡𝑜𝑜, 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑤𝑎𝑦?

— On the cross, Jesus asked the question, “ ‘My God, my God, why have you left me alone?’ ” (Matthew 27:46, ERV). In this verse, we see that evil hurt God. This amazing Bible truth is shown in the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross. All the evil on this earth fell on Jesus at that time.

— This verse also gives us hope. On the cross, Jesus won the fight against evil and its cause, Satan. In the future, Jesus will end evil forever. The words Jesus said on the cross are a quote from Psalm 22:1. The rest of the psalm ends in success and with praises to God.

𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲: “𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐖𝐞 𝐃𝐨 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰”
— History will end when God’s love wins the fight against evil. But meanwhile, many questions about evil may continue to trouble us. How can we think and talk about the problem with evil in a way that is helpful?

— 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝐽𝑜𝑏 38:1–12. 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝐺𝑜𝑑’𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝐽𝑜𝑏 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑢𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛? 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑑𝑜 𝑤𝑒 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑟𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑛𝑜𝑤? 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑑𝑜 𝑤𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑?

— He asked many questions about why so much evil and suffering happened to him. Job wanted to talk with God to get answers to his questions. Job didn’t understand that far more was happening in heaven than he could see (read Job 1; 2). One Bible translation writes: “ ‘Why do you talk so much when you know so little?’ ” (Job 38:2, CEV). After God asks Job this question, God says in Job 38:4, “ ‘Where were you when I made the earth? If you are so smart, answer me’ ” (ERV).

— 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝐽𝑜𝑏 42:3. 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝐽𝑜𝑏’𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑢𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑠?

— God’s answer to Job shows that Job didn’t know and understand many things. We also should be the same as Job. We should empty our hearts of all pride and understand that many things are happening in life that we can’t see and don’t know anything about.

— We may not know the answers to all our questions. But that doesn’t mean that there are no good answers. We must believe that God will answer our questions in the future. Until then, we must trust in God.

𝐓𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐤𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐬𝐭
— God announces in Isaiah 55:8, 9, “ ‘The Lord says, “My thoughts are not like [the same as] yours. Your ways are not like mine. Just as the heavens are higher than [above] the earth, so my ways are higher [filled with more wisdom] than your ways, and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts’ ” (ERV).

— Our thoughts are not as wise as God’s thoughts. We can’t imagine in our minds God’s whole plan for history. 𝑆𝑜, 𝑤ℎ𝑦 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑤𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐺𝑜𝑑’𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐻𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑟 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠𝑛’𝑡 𝑑𝑜? 𝑆𝑜, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛, ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑤𝑒, 𝑎𝑠 ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑠, 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑚 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑙?

— Some people believe in something named 𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐬𝐦. It means that "God has good reasons for doing the things He does, even if we don’t always understand them." At the same time, our knowledge about God is limited. So, we shouldn’t expect to know just what His reasons are.

— A skeptical theist is someone who believes this way. The skeptical theist doubts that humans can understand fully God’s reasons for doing what He does or His decisions about evil on this earth. We can’t see germs moving around in the air. But that doesn’t mean germs aren’t moving in the air all around us. In the same way, we may not know what God’s reasons are, but that doesn’t mean God has no good reasons.

— 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑃𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑚 73. 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑒𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑤𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒 𝑃𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑚 73 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑙 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑚? 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑒𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝𝑠 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑡𝑜 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑤𝑎𝑦?

— The poet was very troubled when he saw all the evil in life. The poet looked around him and saw evil people enjoying success. Nothing was fair. The poet had no answers for what he saw. He wondered if his believing and serving God was worth it. But then the poet looked in God’s holy temple.

— God’s temple helped the poet understand the problem with evil better. How? The temple is the place where God does His work as Judge. As a holy Judge, God will do what is fair. He will punish evil in His own time.

𝐖𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐃𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞
— While we may not fully understand God’s ways or thoughts, the Bible does tell us some things that help us with the problem of evil. One view for helping us understand the problem with evil better is named the free will defense.

— The free will defense is the view that evil happened because humans made the wrong choice. So, we must not blame God for evil. God gave us free will or free choice for good reasons.

— Christian writer C.S. Lewis wrote, “𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑠 𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑙 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒. 𝐴𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒, 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑠 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑜𝑟 𝑗𝑜𝑦 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑡ℎ ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝐴 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑡 𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑜𝑡𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑡ℎ 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑢𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑦. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑤𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑏𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑦 𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟. . . . 𝑊𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑓 𝑤𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒.” free.” — Mere Christianity (New York: MacMillan, 1960), page 52, adapted.

— 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝐺𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑠 2:16, 17. 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑢𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑜𝑚 𝑡𝑜 𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑠𝑒?

— Adam and Eve chose to eat the forbidden fruit. Since then, our planet became filled with evil. The story about the Fall shows how the wrong choice brought sin and evil into the history of our planet.

— All through the Bible, we read about free choice. Every day of our lives, we make choices because God made us free to choose. Without the freedom to choose, we would not really be human. We would be more like a machine or a robot.

𝐓𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲: 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐄𝐯𝐢𝐥?
— God gave people free choice. Free choice is necessary for love. When we make bad choices, evil happens. We must be free to choose evil or good. Without this choice, we cannot be free to love.

— “𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡ℎ 𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑛’𝑡 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐺𝑜𝑑. 𝑆𝑜, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡ℎ 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑘 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒. 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝐻𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑠. 𝐻𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑆𝑎𝑡𝑎𝑛’𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑠. 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑡𝑜 𝐻𝑖𝑚𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓. 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑛’𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡 𝐻𝑖𝑚. 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑔𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑟𝑢𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐺𝑜𝑑’𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡. 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑒 𝐻𝑖𝑚 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝐻𝑖𝑚. 𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛’𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑. 𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛’𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑙. 𝑊𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑠. 𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑒 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝐺𝑜𝑑, 𝑤𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝐻𝑖𝑚 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘. 𝐺𝑜𝑑’𝑠 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡ℎ. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝐺𝑜𝑑’𝑠 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑆𝑎𝑡𝑎𝑛’𝑠 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚.” — Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, page 22, adapted.

— If we aren’t free to choose, we can’t be free to love. If God is love, then God must allow us the freedom to choose to love Him.

— Often, we can’t understand why evil happens. But God sees the end from the beginning. He also promises happiness to everyone who has faith in Jesus.

— Jesus chose to die because He wanted us to be free to love. He knew what our freedom to choose would cost Him. Our free choice would send Him to the cross and cause Him to suffer much. But Jesus gave us our freedom anyway.

𝑳𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝑨𝒑𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏: As we deal with the difficult problem of evil and suffering, we need to recognize how limited we are in understanding the many things that happen to, and around, us just as Job was limited in his understanding.

“𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝐻𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑑𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑎𝑟𝑦, 𝑤ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑖𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑛, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑛𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝐺𝑜𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡 𝑢𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑢𝑖𝑛 𝑤𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑙. […] 𝑊𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝐻𝑖𝑠—𝐻𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑢𝑟𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐻𝑖𝑠 𝑆𝑜𝑛 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑒.” — EGW (Fundamentals of Christian Education, p. 429)

𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒌!

07/02/2025

𝐒𝐀𝐁𝐁𝐀𝐓𝐇 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐋 𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘

𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝟔: 𝐆𝐨𝐝’𝐬 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞

𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐓𝐞𝐱𝐭: “𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑔𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑔𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑠 𝑀𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 𝑎𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑜𝑟𝑑, 𝑒𝑥𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠, 𝑗𝑢𝑑𝑔𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑒𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡ℎ. 𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝐼 𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡’ 𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑜𝑟𝑑” (𝗝𝗲𝗿. 𝟵:𝟮𝟰, 𝗡𝗞𝗝𝗩).

𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Throughout Scripture, God’s love and justice are intrinsic to His character. These attributes reveal His deep concern for justice and righteousness.
Love and justice belong together. Throughout Scripture, true love requires justice, and true justice is driven by love. Genuine love and justice describe God’s perfect character. He loves justice and intends to see justice practiced in the world.
Love and Justice is the foundation of God’s government. His actions are grounded on the constancy of the divine moral character, not on random decisions and unjust deeds. God’s justice emanates from His regularity, as He never lies, and His promises are unbreakable.

𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲: 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞
— A Love and justice belong together, an inseparable or tandem. All through the Bible, God is both fair and loving. God’s love must always be fair.

— 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑃𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑚 33:5; 𝐼𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑎ℎ 61:8; 𝐽𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑎ℎ 9:24; 𝑃𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑚 85:10; 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑃𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑚 89:14. 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑑𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑢𝑠 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑟?

— These verses announce that God loves being fair (Psalm 33:5; Isaiah 61:8). In the Bible, the ideas of love and being fair are connected and can’t be separated from each other. God’s love and His holy life are connected, too. God cares very much about what happens to His people on this earth. He wants us to be holy and fair in everything we do.

— We must make fair laws and fair decisions. We must not hurt or cheat the poor, the widows, or the weak. God is “always kind, fair and right” (Jeremiah 9:24, NIV). The Bible shows us that God’s work as judge is always fair. He saves people from the ones who steal from them and hurt them.

— God’s law and His work as judge are an important part of His government. God’s decisions are holy and fair and come from His love. God’s government is different from the governments that control this earth.

— We need to show God’s love and mercy. We need to be fair to other people. When we do these things, we show people who God is.

𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲: 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐈𝐬 𝐄𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬
— The Bible teaches us that God is fully holy, dependable, and loving. God always does what is loving, holy, and fair. God never does any wrong or evil.

— 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝐷𝑒𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑚𝑦 32:4 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑃𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑚 92:15. 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑢𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝐺𝑜𝑑?

— These verses (and many other verses in the Bible) announce that God is fair and loving. “There is no evil in him” (Psalm 92:15, NIV; “He never does anything that is wrong [evil]. Every morning he does what is fair. Each new day he does the right [correct] thing.

— Despite having all authority and all power; despite having no one above Him who can judge His actions; despite having the right to act as He wishes; God never does anything contrary to justice. He never does anything wrong, nor does He induce anyone to do anything wrong (James 1:13; Ps. 5:4.)

— Although He always seeks justice, He never fails to be loving. So when Moses asked to see God’s glory, God replied, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you […] I will have mercy, […] I will have compassion” (Exod. 33:18-19 NIV.)

— Many men and women worship power and powerful people. God is all-powerful, but He uses His power in ways that are fair and loving.

𝐓𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲: 𝐆𝐨𝐝’𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫
— 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑀𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖 3:6 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐽𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑠 1:17. 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑢𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝐻𝑒 𝑖𝑠?

— God does not change (Mal. 3:6; James 1:17.) This categorical statement must be understood to mean that God's character is unchangeable. If He is love, He always acts in love. If He is just, He always acts in justice.

— As can be seen from his conversation with Abraham about S***m, God is willing to make changes in his actions, as long as these do not modify his own essence of love and justice (Gen. 18:26-28.)

— We find it difficult to understand God's immutability because of our tendency to change our feelings. Today we are faithful, tomorrow we are not. Today we love ardently, tomorrow we are indifferent. Today we promise to always tell the truth, tomorrow we lie shamelessly.

— God is not like that. He is always faithful (2 Tim. 2:13); always loving (Jer. 31:3); always true (Titus 1:2); immutable (Heb. 6:17.)

𝐖𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲: 𝐀 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐆𝐨𝐝?
— The perfection of God's love is clearly vindicated in the act of offering his life to rescue us from sin (Rom. 5:8.) This same act also shows us the perfection of his justice (Rom. 3:25-26.)

— Unlike our love, God continues to constantly impart His perfect love even to those who do not love Him, or are not worthy of receiving His benefits (Mt. 5:45.)

— God’s love exceeds any reasonable expectation, but it never nullifies or contravenes justice. He invites us to act like Him: “Hold fast to love and justice” (Hos. 12:6, ESV.)

— God doesn’t change His mind about sin in the ways that people do. God always keeps His promises. He may change His decision to judge His people if they stop doing evil. Then He may decide not to punish them. God is loving, holy, and filled with mercy. God’s decisions always agree with His love and the Bible. That’s why God may choose not to punish His people when they confess their sins and stop doing evil.

— When God finally establishes justice in this world and, out of love, eradicates evil from the universe, every creature will praise God's perfect justice and perfect love (Rev. 15:3-4.).

𝐓𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲: 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐅𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞
— The Bible teaches, that the Lord your God is God. He is the faithful [dependable] God. He keeps his covenant [Promise] for all time to come. He keeps it [His Promise] with those [people] who love him and obey his commandments. He shows them his love. God showed His love for us at the cross when He gave Jesus to die for our sins (read Romans 3:25, 26; Romans 5:8).

— 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠’ 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑀𝑎𝑡𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑤 5:43–48. 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑢𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝐺𝑜𝑑’𝑠 𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒? 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑢𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑤𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒?

— Matthew 5 says that God’s love is perfect love. When we don’t have God’s perfect love in our hearts, we love only the people who love us.

— God loves us more than we could hope for. But God’s love is always fair. God’s love is both fair and filled with mercy (Psalm 85:10). That’s why the Bible encourages us, “ ‘So come back to your God. Be loyal to him. Do the right [fair] thing, and always trust in your God!" (Hosea 12:6, ERV). Or as another translation of this same verse says, “ ‘You must hold on to love and do what is fair’ ” (Hosea 12:6, NIV; compare with Luke 11:42).

— In the end, God will make everything fair. Romans 2:5 teaches us, “The day of God’s anger is coming. Then his way of judging fairly will be shown” (Romans 2:5, NIV).

—Everything the Lord does is right and true. This is because He is a faithful [dependable] God who does no wrong. He is right [holy] and fair.

𝑳𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝑨𝒑𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏: “God gives us many blessings from heaven and on earth to cause us to love Him. God uses nature and our loving relationships with other people to show Himself to us. At the same time, both nature and our loving relationships can’t show us fully who God is. God gives us much proof of His love, but Satan causes people to be afraid of God. Satan tricks people into believing that God is mean and nasty and won’t forgive them. Satan leads people to think that God is a mean judge. Satan made people think that God watches over them and waits for them to make a mistake, so He can punish them. But Jesus came to this earth to live among people to show us that God is love.”

— 𝐸𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑛 𝐺. 𝑊ℎ𝑖𝑡𝑒, 𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑝𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡, 𝑝𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑠 10, 11.

31/01/2025

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your selves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light." "Keeping the Sabbath day holy is much more than just physical rest. It involves spiritual renewal and worship."

31/01/2025

Happy Sabbath Brethren

We should read the Bible as those who listen to the very speech of God.

Matthew 25
Sis. Althea Rose Villegas

31/01/2025

𝐒𝐀𝐁𝐁𝐀𝐓𝐇 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐋 𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘

𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝟓: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞

𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐓𝐞𝐱𝐭: “𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝐻𝑒, 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚. 𝑌𝑒𝑠, 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑎 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝐻𝑒 𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝐻𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑟 𝑢𝑝 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝐻𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑟𝑎𝑡ℎ” (𝗣𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗺 𝟳𝟴:𝟯𝟴, 𝗡𝗞𝗝𝗩).

𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: God’s wrath is an expression of His love, which will punish evil and sin. God’s wrath is His holy and patient response to sin. God’s wrath is not based on an arbitrary, uncontrollable, or vengeful initiative. Rather, it is always a loving, firm response against evil and injustice. His anger is a response to continuous and rebellious sin, which harms His creation.
In Scripture we find a vivid description of God’s wrath as a loving and righteous indignation against the oppression and suffering of His people. God actively intervenes to punish evil, given His righteous indignation, which is motivated by perfect goodness and love. His wrath is the proper response of love against evil, inasmuch as evil hurts His beloved creatures.

𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲: 𝐆𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐄𝐯𝐢𝐥
— The God of the Bible loves decisions that are fair. He hates evil. Sin and evil make God angry. God shows His anger against evil when evil people hurt innocent people. God also feels upset when someone does something evil to hurt himself. God hates evil because evil always hurts the living things that He made.

— In the Bible stories, God gets angry again and again because of the evil that His people do against Him. Below is an outline of what happens in those Bible stories:
1. 𝐹𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝑜𝑏𝑒𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑜 𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑙. 𝑆𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑑𝑜 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑟𝑦. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗱? 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑛’𝑠 𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑔𝑖𝑓𝑡𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑑𝑠.
2. 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒’𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝑜𝑏𝑒𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔
𝐻𝑖𝑚. 𝐻𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑒.
3. 𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑖𝑔𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝐺𝑜𝑑’𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚.
4. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑒𝑠.
5. 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝐻𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑦 𝑠𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝐻𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒.
6. 𝐴𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝑜𝑏𝑒𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑜 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑠𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑡.

— But still, God continues to show His people His mercy and love when they fight against Him.

— 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝗣𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗺 𝟳𝟴. 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑚 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑢𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐻𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡 𝐻𝑖𝑚 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛? 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑑𝑜 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝐻𝑖𝑚?

— The Bible tells us that being fair and showing love go together. God’s anger is the answer of His love against evil because evil always hurts someone that God loves. Every example of God’s anger in the Bible shows that God’s anger is always fair.

— God was patient with His people, even when they made mistakes. God gave them His mercy when they did not expect Him to help them (Nehemiah 9:7–33). God showed them His wonderful love. As Psalm 78:38 says, “𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙 [𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑦]. 𝐻𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚. 𝑀𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟. 𝐻𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑙.”

𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲: 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐈𝐬 𝐒𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫
— Evil makes God angry because God is love. God is so filled with mercy that one special messenger in the Bible scolded God for being filled with too much mercy!

— 𝐿𝑒𝑡’𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟, 𝐽𝑜𝑛𝑎ℎ. 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝐽𝑜𝑛𝑎ℎ 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑑 ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑦, 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑁𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑠? 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝐽𝑜𝑛𝑎ℎ 4:1–4 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟.

— The story of Jonah clearly shows how we understand divine wrath: we want God to immediately burn those who harm us (without realizing that we also harm others.)

— But God's wrath is not like that. First, it does not come without warning. Because God seeks repentance, not destruction.

— On the other hand, God’s anger—as Jonah himself acknowledges—is slow (Jonah 4:2.) Literally, God is “𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠-𝐧𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝.” This Hebrew expression implies that "𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐲."

— God loves us and gives us grace. But He cannot tolerate or justify sin. God is angry with sin, but He loves the sinner. He will only show anger toward the sinner when this is the only way to bring him to repentance, or when the sinner has completely rejected the call of the Holy Spirit.

𝐓𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲: 𝐑𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
— Many angry feelings are evil and filled with sin. But the Bible also teaches us that there is holy anger.

— 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑀𝑎𝑡𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑤 21:12, 13 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐽𝑜ℎ𝑛 2:14–16. 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑜 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐻𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝐺𝑜𝑑’𝑠 𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒? 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠’ 𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑢𝑠 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐺𝑜𝑑’𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑙?

— In these verses, we see that Jesus was upset with the people who did evil in God’s temple. These people stole money that was meant to help widows, orphans, and the poor (𝑀𝑎𝑡𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑤 21:13; 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝐽𝑜ℎ𝑛 2:16). The temple offerings showed God’s forgiveness and how He made people clean from sin. But the Jewish leaders used the offerings to cheat and hurt the poor and the needy. No wonder Jesus was mad!

— Mark 10:13, 14 and Mark 3:4, 5 give us more examples of Jesus’ holy anger. When people brought little children to Jesus, His followers scolded the ones who brought them. That upset Jesus. Jesus said to His followers, “ ‘Let the little children come to me. Don’t stop them’ ” (Mark 10:14, ERV).

— In another Bible story, the Jewish leaders waited to accuse Jesus of breaking the Sabbath because He healed someone on it. Jesus asked the leaders, “ ‘𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑎𝑤 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑤𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑑𝑜 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑎𝑏𝑏𝑎𝑡ℎ 𝑑𝑎𝑦? 𝑆ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑤𝑒 𝑑𝑜 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑? 𝑂𝑟 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑤𝑒 𝑑𝑜 𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑙? 𝑆ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑤𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒? 𝑂𝑟 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑤𝑒 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙?’ But no one answered (Mark 3:4, NIV). “Jesus looked at the people. He was angry, but he felt very sad because they were so stubborn. He said to the man, ‘Hold out your hand.’ The man held out his hand, and it was healed” (Mark 3:5, ERV).

— Do you see that Jesus is both angry and sad at the same time? Jesus is upset because the Jewish leaders had hard hearts. Jesus’ anger is holy because it comes from His love. In the same way, the anger of God in the Old Testament is holy because it also came from His love.

𝐖𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲: 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐃𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐀𝐟𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐭 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐲
— The Bible shows us that God helps people who are hurt and suffering. God also shows His anger against evil people. Evil makes God angry. His anger is always against the things that hurt the living things that He made.

— When we read Lamentations 3:32, 33, we see that God doesn’t want to punish sinners. He doesn’t want to judge evil people. But God is a God of love. Because God is a God of love, He must be fair and punish evil.

— We see this Bible truth in the Bible stories about how long God continued to forgive His people. Again and again, God gave His people time to stop sinning and come back to Him. God sent His special messengers, the prophets, to His people. But His people refused to listen (read Jeremiah 35:14–17; Psalm 81:11–14).

— 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝐸𝑧𝑟𝑎 5:12 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝐽𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑎ℎ 51:24, 25, 44. 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑑𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑢𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑦 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑗𝑢𝑑𝑔𝑒𝑑 𝐽𝑒𝑟𝑢𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑚?

— Ezra 5 tells us that God’s people continued to make Him angry. After a long while, God finally allowed Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, to remove His people from their land and take them away to Babylon. God waited a long time before He let go of His people. He waited until there was no other way to save them. Later, God judged Babylon for the terrible things that it did to His people and their land.

— When God judges His people, the Bible explains God’s actions as giving the people to their enemies. That’s because God is accepting their decision to serve other gods and not Him. God’s anger against evil comes from His love and because He wants the best for everyone.

𝐓𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲: 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧
— God's wrath is terrible, and His vengeance is terrible (Heb. 10:30-31.) But it is not immoral or contrary to love. In fact, God expresses His wrath against evil because of love.

— Love is important to God; anger isn’t. God gets angry because sin and evil cause bad things to happen to the ones He loves.

— 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝐷𝑒𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑚𝑦 32:35; 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑏𝑠 20:22; 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑏𝑠 24:29; 𝑅𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑠 12:17–21; 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐻𝑒𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑤𝑠 10:30. 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑑𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑢𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑡𝑟𝑦 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑡 𝑢𝑠?

— The Bible tells us that God may punish us. When He does, He is always fair. Both the Old and New Testaments say that only God may judge and punish the people who hurt us.

— We must leave vengeance to God. God's vengeance is always just, but our vengeance is never proportional to the harm received. Instead of taking revenge, we are encouraged to do good to those who harm us (Rom. 12:17-21.)

— There is good news. Jesus made a way for everyone to be saved who believes in Him. Jesus “saves us from God’s anger, and his anger is sure to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10, NIV). God’s coming anger is part of His plan: “God planned to save us from the punishment of sin through [because of] our Lord Jesus Christ. He did not plan for us to suffer from His anger” (1 Thessalonians 5:9, NLV). The ones who believe in Jesus will be saved from God’s anger.

𝑳𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝑨𝒑𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏: Taking into account God’s responsible response to injustice and evil, how should we work to actively eliminate injustice or alleviate the suffering of others?

𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒌!

31/01/2025

"Lord, I pray that Your Holy Spirit would take the lead as I study these Scriptures, granting me discernment and understanding so that I may glean the wisdom that You have for me.

Matthew 24
Bro. Khedy Jay Fajilagot

30/01/2025

Matthew 23
Bro. Kiel Fajilagot

28/01/2025

Matthew 22
Sis. Marianelle Ferry

27/01/2025

Matthew 21
Bro. Lorenz Alcaraz

24/01/2025

𝐒𝐀𝐁𝐁𝐀𝐓𝐇 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐋 𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘

𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝟒: 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐈𝐬 𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞

𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐓𝐞𝐱𝐭: “ ‘𝐶𝑎𝑛 𝑎 𝑤𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑛𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑜𝑚𝑏? 𝑆𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑡, 𝑦𝑒𝑡 𝐼 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢’ ” (𝗜𝘀𝗮. 𝟰𝟵:𝟭𝟱, 𝗡𝗞𝗝𝗩).

𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: God is moved physically and emotionally with profound compassion for His people. Our passionate and compassionate God is vividly presented in Scripture with parenting imagery. God’s love has strong emotional and affective aspects, similar to parental love.
The Hebrew word for compassion depicts a womb-like maternal love, emphasizing a mother’s compassion toward her child. Similarly, God shows tender affection and compassion for His people.
God loves us deeply. When we understand this idea about God’s love, we can learn some beautiful Bible truths. But we always must remember that God’s love is not the same as our love. Our love is human. But God’s love is perfect.

𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲: 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐚 𝐌𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞
— The most important love in our human experience is a parent’s love for a child. The Bible often uses the parent-child relationship as a word picture to show God’s amazing mercy and love for people. This word picture shows that God’s mercy is much more powerful than the deepest and most beautiful human love we can feel.

— 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑃𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑚 103:13; 𝐼𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑎ℎ 49:15; 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐽𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑎ℎ 31:20 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑢𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐺𝑜𝑑. 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑢𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑢𝑠?

— These verses show us that God loves the same as a parent loves a child. We are God’s beloved children. God loves us the same as a good father and mother love their children. But as Isaiah 49:15 explains, a mother may “forget her baby” or “forget the child who came from her body” (ERV). But God always remembers His children. “The Lord’s love never ends” (Lamentations 3:22, ICB).

— The word for “love” in Lamentations 3:22 comes from the word “𝐫𝐚𝐡𝐚𝐦” in the Hebrew language. Bible thinkers believe that the word “𝐫𝐚𝐡𝐚𝐦” comes from the Hebrew word “𝐫𝐞𝐡𝐞𝐦,” which means the part of a woman’s body where her baby grows inside her.

— So, Bible thinkers use this idea to show that God’s love is the same as a mother’s love that she feels for her child when it is born. This love is very strong and powerful.

— Jeremiah 31:20 tells us what God thinks and feels about His chosen people, Israel. Israel is the same as God’s dear son and beloved child. Often Israel rejected God and refused to obey Him. Their sins hurt God very deeply. But God continued to love Israel anyway and to show them His mercy.

— The word for “𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐲” (Jeremiah 31:20, KJV) or “𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠-𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐲” (NLV) in this verse comes from the same word that is used for God’s love (“𝐫𝐚𝐡𝐚𝐦”).

— This verse uses strong language to show us that God loves us so very much, more than we can imagine in our minds. God’s love for His people didn’t stop when they refused to obey Him or broke His law. God continues to love His people anyway.

𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲: 𝐆𝐮𝐭-𝐖𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞
— The book of Hosea shows us God’s love for humans. God commanded Hosea, “ ‘Go. Marry a woman who has s*x with anyone she wants. Have [make] children with her. Do this [marry this woman] because the people of the land are like [the same as] that kind [type] of wife. They have not been faithful [loyal] to me’ ” (Hosea 1:2, NIV). Later, Hosea 11 uses a different word picture to show God’s relationship with His people. Hosea uses the word picture of a loving father.

— 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝐻𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑎 11:1–9. 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑 𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑢𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐻𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒?

— The book of Hosea uses the word picture of a parent’s love for a child to show us God’s love. The Bible shows God as a parent teaching a young child to walk. God also is compared to a parent holding his child in his arms. The Bible shows God as someone who heals His people, feeds them, and takes care of their needs. The Bible says that God “carried” His people the same as “a man carries his son” (Deuteronomy 1:31, NLV). The Bible says that God “loved them [His people] and felt sorry for them, so he saved them. . . . He picked them up and carried them, just as he did long ago” (Isaiah 63:9, ERV).

— Compare God’s love for His people with His people’s love for Him. 𝗚𝗼𝗱’𝘀 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗮𝗹. But His people “𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭” on Him the same as a cheating wife. 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒕? They don’t obey God. Their sins hurt God very deeply and cause God to punish them. God is loving. But His love is always fair. He will punish sin and evil when necessary. God’s love is both fair and filled with mercy. Being fair and showing mercy are behaviors that work well with each other.)

𝐓𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬
— In many picture stories, Jesus uses words that show us that God’s love and mercy for us are very strong (Matthew 18:27; Luke 10:33; Luke 15:20). The New Testament writers use the same word pictures from the Old Testament to show Jesus’ mercy to suffering people.

— 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑀𝑎𝑡𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑤 9:36; 𝑀𝑎𝑡𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑤 14:14; 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑘 1:41; 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑘 6:34; 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐿𝑢𝑘𝑒 7:13. 𝐴𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑀𝑎𝑡𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑤 23:37. 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑑𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑢𝑠 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠’ 𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑢𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒?

— The Bible tells us that Jesus was filled with love and mercy for people who suffered or were in need. Jesus’ mercy caused Him to help suffering people and take care of their needs, too.

— Yes, the people made Jesus cry and feel sad. Imagine, the tears when He looks at Jerusalem and says, “ ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem! Many times I wanted to help your people! I wanted to gather [collect] them together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. But you did not let me’ ” (Matthew 23:37, ICB). In this verse, the sorrow that Jesus feels matches the sorrow in God’s heart in the Old Testament.

— Bible thinkers tell us that only writers from the lands where Jesus grew up used this mother-hen word picture to talk about God. This word picture helps us remember Deuteronomy 32:11. Deuteronomy 32:11 compares God to a bird protecting and taking care of its young chicks.

— Jesus is the best example of God’s mercy for us. That’s because Jesus gave Himself for us. He died for our sins. Jesus is also a perfect example of what each of us can become.

𝐖𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲: 𝐀 𝐉𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐆𝐨𝐝?
— The Bible says that God is a God of mercy. In the Hebrew language, God is named “𝐞𝐥 𝐫𝐚𝐡𝐮𝐦” Deuteronomy 4:31. The word “𝐞𝐥” means “𝐆𝐨𝐝.” “𝐑𝐚𝐡𝐮𝐦” comes from the word for “𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐲” in the Hebrew language. The Bible also tells us that God is “𝐞𝐥 𝐪𝐚𝐧𝐚’ ” or the jealous God. Deuteronomy 4:24 says, “The Lord your God is a jealous [wants you to worship Him and no one else] God."

— 1 𝐶𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑠 13:4 𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 “𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑗𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑠” (𝐸𝑅𝑉). 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒, 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡? 𝑆𝑜, ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝐻𝑒 𝑏𝑒 𝑎 “𝑗𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝐺𝑜𝑑”? 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑 2 𝐶𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑠 11:2 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑜𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝐺𝑜𝑑’𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑛’𝑡 𝑜𝑏𝑒𝑦 𝐻𝑖𝑚. 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑑𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑢𝑠 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑡 𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑖𝑠 𝑗𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑠?

— The word “jealous” often is not a very nice word in many languages. But in the Bible, when God is jealous, His being jealous is not bad. God’s jealous feelings are the same as a loving husband who wants to be the only man who has a love relationship with his wife.

— The Bible tells us that love isn’t jealous (1 Corinthians 13:4). At the same time, the Bible says that love can also be holy. Paul says that this jealous feeling “comes from God” (2 Corinthians 11:2, ERV). God’s jealous feelings are the only holy jealous feelings. These feelings really talk about God’s deep love for His people.

— God’s jealous feelings (“𝐪𝐚𝐧𝐚”) for His people come from His deep love for them. God wants His people to worship Him and nothing else. God wants to be their only God. 𝑺𝒐, 𝑮𝒐𝒅’𝒔 𝒋𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑯𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂 𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆. His people do evil and cause God to feel hurt and jealous. Jealous humans want things that don’t belong to them. But God’s jealous love is never evil. He wants to be the only God His people
worship.

𝐓𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲: 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞
— The God of the Bible is filled with mercy. His love is strong and deep. Jesus shows us these strong feelings. Jesus shows us that God loves us very much. God feels pity for people when they are in trouble (Isaiah 63:9; Hebrews 4:15). God is sad when His people suffer (Judges 10:16; Luke 19:41). God is always willing to hear, answer, and comfort His people (Isaiah 49:10, 15; Matthew 9:36; Matthew 14:14).

— 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑑 1 𝐶𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑠 13:4–8. 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑑𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑠𝑘 𝑢𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝐺𝑜𝑑’𝑠 𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒?

— We want relationships with people who show the love that we read about in 1 Corinthians 13:4–8. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒐𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒅𝒐 𝒘𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆? We can’t make ourselves patient and nice. We can’t stop being jealous, filled with pride, nasty, or selfish. God’s love “never gives up on people. It never stops trusting, never loses hope, and never quits. Love will never end” (1 Corinthians 13:7,8, ERV). We can’t show this love without God’s help. Praise God that His Holy Spirit pours His love into our hearts when we live with faith in Jesus (Romans 5:5).

— God’s mercy and His Holy Spirit help us to show God’s
deep and holy love to other people. 𝐈𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐞
𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞?
1. W𝑒 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒.
2. W𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝐺𝑜𝑑’𝑠 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒. 𝑊𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑠 𝑢𝑠 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟.
3. W𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛’𝑡 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑠, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑐𝑎𝑛.

— So, let us ask God to give us a new heart for loving Him and for other people. God can give us a love that makes us holy and removes the sin from our hearts.

— Let Paul’s words to the church members in Thessalonica be our prayer: “May the Lord make your love grow. . . . May your love for one another increase [grow]. May it also increase for everyone else. May it be just like [the same as] our love for you. May the Lord give you strength in your hearts. Then you will be holy and without blame in the sight of our God and Father. May that be true [real] when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones” (1 Thessalonians
3:12, 13, NIV).

𝑳𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝑨𝒑𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏: In His passionate and compassionate love, God invites us to be like Him. In our compassion toward others, we need to be considerate of the people around us and be purposeful as a church about actively caring for others.

𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒌!

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