The Kindness of God to Heal

I was struck by kindness of God as I listened to a message from Graham Cooke on "Identity & Inheritance" and especially as I was realizing how Father has subtly put pressure on my identity to heal broken parts in my heart.  The Bible says, it is the kindness of God that leads to repentance (Romans 2:4).  Well that doesn't sound like the in-your-face version of God that is some times represented, such as the old fashion turn or burn.  I am not saying that people understanding the reality of Hell is a bad thing but I don't believe that is how Father God is desiring to woo them into this eternal relationship of love and freedom.  The message of Jesus as He was on the earth is one of grace and truth, offering mercy and grace to those who are in need and laid low.  It is truly amazing to believe the reality that God is always kind, in Exodus 34 when Moses asks to have God show him His glory He declares of Himself, "Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin;"  I have a hard time believing in the depth of the kindness of God because I have never met a person who was always kind.  A God who can be kind to sinners, selfish people, people full of contradictions, people who are mired in darkness, and people who are tormented and tortured.  Yet Jesus is unrelentingly loving and kind, even when Judas betrays Him and sells Him out, when He is beaten, when Peter denies Him, when all the disciples abandoned Him, and finally when He is crucified.  Jesus intense love and kindness are displayed in the midst of the darkest sin humanity can dish out, the light shines best in the darkness.  I am struck by the kindness of the Lord as He exposes another layer of deception that I have walked in but I do not experience condemnation from Him.  In 1 John 3 the Holy Spirit is talking through John about how our own hearts can condemn us but God is greater than our hearts.  I do experience condemnation at times but I am realizing it is not from the Lord but from deception in my heart.  Since it is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance (change of mind), we don't see who God is through condemnation.  Jesus took all the condemnation that came from sin, by Him becoming sin and taking the condemnation that we legally deserved.  God is the kindest person there is, His kindness pursues us (Psalm 23:6) as David proclaims in the well known Psalm of the Lord as our shepherd.  I pray that we would have a greater revelation of the kindness of God, this will bring repentance and repentance brings renewing of the mind which leads to transformation.  As we are transformed we look more and more like Jesus.

In His Kindness,
Bret