Who is God? Forgiveness and Acceptance

“Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.”
--Come Thy Fount, Robert Robinson


Earlier today, I asked, “Who is God?” The question has been marinating in my head for a few hours and I must say (surprise!) that I do not have an answer. I will probably never have an answer of who God completely is. Again, this is part of the Divine Mystery. While I cannot begin to describe the bigness, the unfailing grace, the power, the wonder of God, I can talk about one of His attributes that I believe is very important for college students to grasp.
God forgives.

We’re going to meet people from all different walks of life here at MSU. We must realize that it is not right, not fair, and foolish to think that every person we encounter will have the same beliefs as us. Not everyone is a white, middle-class Baptist whose parents voted Republican the last 5 elections. It just doesn’t work that way anymore. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with the family background I just described. I just feel that a lot of us (as in myself included, yes, us) superimpose our personalities on others, so that we can better relate to them.

Why are we (again, plural first person, I’m included) instinctively afraid of what is different, what is foreign, what is “wrong”. Talking with one of my friends tonight about people’s past, we realized that there’s no need to harp on past mistakes, because God sure doesn’t. She spoke on the need for forgiveness, because how would we ever be able to have a relationship with God when we are constantly screwing things up, if He did not forgive our sins? It would be an impossible standard to live up to – perfection, that is.

I have a problem. It’s impossible for me to stay mad at someone forever. I get frustrated with people rarely and upon the unusual occasion that someone does manage to legitimately upset me beyond a simple “I’m sorry,” I almost always come back to them first to reconcile the grievance, even if it is several months down the road.
This “problem” is one of the gifts God has given me: the gift of empathy and compassion. I have no qualms about saying confidently that I am a compassionate person and can easily, and almost immediately, put myself in someone’s shoes and feel their pain. I can’t stay mad at you, because I know what it’s like to be outcast, shunned, and the cause of someone’s anger. It’s a sickening feeling on both ends.

The reason I am able to feel this compassion for others, the cause of my general love for humanity, comes from God. This is part of who God is.

God is love. God is compassion. God is forgiveness and mercy and redemption and a second, third, and (insert really big number here) chance. God is all of these things, and He allows some of us to be these things on an imperfect scale.

So the next time you wonder who God is, maybe you can think about what God is to help explain it. I know the only way I can attempt to understand the Creator of the Entire Universe is by simplifying Him in my mind, only to build Him back up in my heart and soul.

The mind cannot comprehend what the soul believes or what the heart feels.


Thought of the Moment: None is perfect. None is any more “worthy” to enter the Kingdom of God than the next. God forgives and God accepts. Shouldn’t we?

Matthew 20: 29-34 – Jesus’ compassion.