Good morning people who see God as wonderful as He is

Many times our concept, our belief, our theology of God is incorrect. Many times people see God in a heavy-handed, judgemental, harsh light, but this is not what He is like at all.

As I read through Matthew again, I notice the first couple of mentions of Who this Jesus will be. Take a look at these verses:

Matthew 1:23, 2:6b (NIV) “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”)… for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.’

The first thing is: This Jesus will be called Immanuel, which means, ‘God with us’.

God is not with us to watch our every move in order to pronounce and bring judgement on us – not at all. John 3:17 makes it clear that ‘God sent His Son to save the world, not to condemn the world’. Like it says in Psalm 139,God knows everything about us and He ‘hems us in behind and before’ –the picture here is not ‘hemming in to control’, but like a mother hen with her chicks, He surrounds us to protect us. Now that’s nice.

The second thing I see is: Jesus will come as a ruler to shepherd God’s people.

Yes, this world ‘ruler’ means ‘to lead’, but look how He leads: By shepherding God’s people. This word ‘shepherd’ means ‘to tend as a shepherd, to feed, to furnish pasture with food, to nourish, to supply the requisites for the soul’s needs’. Again, that sounds really nice and loving!

God is with us to protect us + God rules us to shepherd us = God is nice.

The End.