The cliché “a God of love” who shows leniency... - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2026

Our God is a consuming fire.
Hebrews 12:29

The cliché "a God of love" who shows leniency regarding the shortcomings of so-called "good people" (if they indeed exist) is commonly used. In an absolute sense, however, it is incorrect.

It is true that God has revealed Himself as a God of love in Jesus Christ, His Son. He "so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3, 16). That does not make Him a God of love who turns a blind eye to wrong. Only "he who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God has not life" (1 John 5, 12). We must fact this fact.

God once gave the people of Israel the law with the ten commandments (Exodus 19 & 20). They were the minimum demands that the people had to meet to satisfy Him. But man proved incapable of fulfilling His expectations. God therefore sent His Son out of love. But that did not happen at the expense of His holiness. In His holy claims God is still the same as He was at Sinai, where he appeared as "a consuming fire".

How then can God, whose holiness demands justice, forgive sins? The answer to this question is the great subject of the Bible. Christ, the Son of God, became the Substitute. God's holy wrath fell upon Him in all its severity on the cross of Calvary. Now God can offer man forgiveness on a righteous basis. Everyone who puts his faith in Christ and His atoning sacrifice receives it.