February 11, 2026 -Loving & Just
- brooks16055
- 8 hours ago
- 2 min read
Exodus 34:6-7 NIV
[6] And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, [7] maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”
Exodus 34:15-16 NIV
[15] “Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. [16] And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same.
God is loving and just. That is evident before Jesus' time in the ways that He allowed His people to suffer the consequences of their actions. For example, the Israelites who grumbled against Him had to wonder in the desert for 40 years and none of them were allowed to enter the promised land. When they followed the people of a foreign land and worshiped other gods there was guilt and they were punished. Those things are just but in His loving goodness He provided for all their needs while they were in the desert, and He fulfilled His promise when He brought all their children into the promised land. When they turned back to God and away from the foreign gods, He received them and gave them victory over their enemies. God's nature does not change. He is still loving and just. His justice would dictate that we should be separated from Him in our sin, but His love restores us to Him by His own suffering. He is still just when He allows us to suffer consequences for our choices. If we lie to get a job, we will lose that job and be unemployed, but when we turn to Him, He will walk with us through the process of looking for a new job. If we shoplift, we can be fined or arrested, but we don't have to deal with it alone.
The final debt of our sin has been paid but we live in a sinful world that influences and encourages our sinful nature. As we sin, repent and are restored over and over again we are being refined. Sanctified. And sanctification is a process that will never end until we or in our Heavenly Home.
Imagine what would have happened if God were just but not loving.