Let's have a think about God's character. I've been thinking about it for a while now and I thought that it would be great to share what I have come up with, with you. 

Well its one of those things where you think you've got it, and then something else turns up. Most people say that God is love, and it's true. But God's so much more than just love, sure he does everything in love for us, but his character is not just love. It's justice, mercy, war, peace, revenge, protection, my list could go on and on. With God, even if we can't see it at the time, every act He has done has had a measure of love in it. Even when we think about, say, Uzzah being killed for touching the ark when he knew he shouldn't have, we can still see that God's love was manifested because of two things; he had warned them of the consequences of touching the ark, and, in killing Uzzah, He showed the rest of the people that His word could be trusted. 

In order to encompass all the different aspects of God's character, we need to look at His actions in the Bible. But before we do that, I'm going to tell you what I think the humanly graspable essence of God's character is. I think it's selflessness. I'll show you why.

Firstly, how does God show selflessness in the creation of the world? Well, He gave us power over our own bodies and souls. He would have kept the paradise how it was and save Himself so much heartache and loss, but He gave us the power over ourselves. He showed selflessness by not giving Himself power over us. 

He showed selflessness in the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah. We might not be able to see it when we first look at the story, but it's there. Before God burned the cities, He had warned the leaders many times to turn from their evil ways and follow the Lord and they had not. It would have hurt God to burn the cities, but it was not for His glory that they burnt. He knew that some people would have been turned away from following Him by the seemingly harsh character displayed, he was doing it for the betterment of the Christians living in the city and around it. 

 

So, if God's character is selfless, shouldn't we be giving Him all the praise? Let us know what you think in the comments.