Let’s consider three inseparable characteristics of our triune God. This is a very important subject because you can’t have one of these without the other. If your religion emphasizes one of these characteristics and denies or minimizes other characteristics, it is a false doctrine that is denying God.
1) God is holy
The LORD also said to Moses, “Give the following instructions to the entire community of Israel. You must be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy. (Leviticus 19:1-2)
So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:13-16)
The word “holy” used in Leviticus and throughout the Hebrew scriptures is qadosh – (1) of God, as separate, apart and so sacred, holy; (a) exalted on theophanic throne, (b) separate from human infirmity, impurity, and sin; (c) His divine name; (2) of places or people. It means unique and special.
The word “holy” used in 1 Peter and throughout the Greek scriptures is hagios – different, unlike others, set apart from the world with a special nature that is like the Lord.
In John 10:9, Jesus said, “I am the door, if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved.” There is only one door, there are not many doors. This is a peculiar uniqueness about God. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” There is only one way, there are not many ways.
Have you responded to this special, unique, call of God. Since God is — special and unique — holy, you need to trust only in him for your life and salvation. Do not trust in their own works. Do not invent man-made any religious endeavors that pretend to offer self-righteous ways of saving yourself. Give up your life and accept the life that has been given up for you.
2) God is light
God sent a man, John the Baptist, to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light. The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. (John 1:6-9)
“There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.” (John 3:18-21)
This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:5-7)
If anyone claims, “I am living in the light,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is still living in darkness. Anyone who loves another brother or sister is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble. But anyone who hates another brother or sister is still living and walking in darkness. Such a person does not know the way to go, having been blinded by the darkness. (1 John 2:9-11)
The word light used in John and throughout the Greek scriptures is phós – literally light, especially in terms of its results and what it manifests, and figuratively truth and knowledge that exposes reason and understanding to all.
In the parable of the despised Samaritan, Jesus Christ demonstrated that light described by John. Jesus Christ illuminated the religious law expert’s heart with the truth. He cut away the self-righteous works-based religion and showed the truth. In John 4, Jesus said, “true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.” Jesus Christ is that true light — of spirit and truth — who gives light to everyone. Only those who reject him turn from that light because their deeds are evil.
Have you responded to this light? If you are living in the true knowledge of this light, then you will love your neighbor as the despised Samaritan loved the Jewish man. But, if you don’t love your neighbor, and you don’t even love your brother or sister, then don’t deceive yourself that you are living in this light.
3) God is love
This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister. (1 John 3:10)
Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. (1 John 4:7-10)
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. (1 John 4:16)
Have you responded to this love? If not, please take a moment to read…
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