"The Mind of Christ"

"Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?" (Psalms 76:7) Suddenly I have no right to feel as though I deserve anything at all. And yet, at the same time, I realize that the Father's love, in and of itself, is all that I really ever need, and it's absolutely free! This is the kind of verse that the world might look at as one which points out God's wrath or His judgment over us; when it's so far from being what the human mind makes it out to be. Let's take Adam's reaction to God walking in the garden after he had sinned, and how Adam was afraid and hid himself from God. He had every right to hide, after all, he did something that God had instructed him not to do; but God already knew what he had done; heck, God already knew where and why Adam was hiding, yet He asked him anyway, saying, "Adam, where art thou?" First of all, there is something very important that we need to understand about God, in that He never stops loving us! He might not love the things that we do, or the sin in our lives; but His love for us is more powerful than all the sins that have ever been committed, or all the dead that have ever died. Secondly, the thing that God hates is death, because death is the opposite of who He is, because He is life. To see the point I am trying to make, we can look at two very familiar passages of Scripture; one speaks of death, while the other speaks of life. The first one, the one that speaks of death, is found in Genesis 2:17, where God tells Adam, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." This was God's warning to man about death; it was not God's judgment towards man's disobedience, but rather, His warning to man of what would happen if he did not listen to this one simple command. By the way; God's commandments are always taken as if they are laws, as if God is giving them saying, "Do this or die!" Nothing could be further from the truth! God loves us, and He wants the very best for us; yet we don't understand what is best for us, so He has given us instructions in the form of commandments. In the context of all that God was saying to Adam, He gave Adam far more positive instruction than negative; it's just that the negative one appeared more terminal, especially compared to all the others that spoke about life, living, and procreation. The second, the one that speaks of life, is found in John 3:16; a verse that is the most quoted verse from the Bible. As a matter of fact, it is quoted so much and so often, that we sometimes forget who it was that made the statement, who it was that was speaking, and why it is that He said what He said... "No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life." (John 3:13-15) NLT