Week 4 - Thursday

The Purpose of God's Kindness

Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? (Romans 2:4)

Every person has experienced the kindness, forbearance and patience of God. His kindness is shown by all the good things He does for us. God has given each of us the gift of life and a beautiful world to live it in. He has given us friends and family to enjoy it with. It is God who created each of us, with our own individual talents so that we will have the ability to be productive in some way. He has provided us with the things we need to exist, like food and water and sunlight. Every single breath of air we breathe is a gift from God. God's forbearance refers to the fact that He is holding back His judgment. God has said that the wages of sin is death. God has every right to destroy every one of us today for our sins, but He doesn't do it. Some day His judgment will come, but for now He is waiting. The word patience means the will,or ability, to wait or to endure. God's extraordinary patience is seen by the long period of time He has been both kind and forbearing to us, even though we continue to sin. Yes God has been good to us. Unfortunately many people take that for granted. It means very little to them that God is expecting something in return. Yet God still continues to provide for them because it is His loving nature to do so.

But there's another reason that God is being good to us now. It's because He is using His kindness to us to lead us to repentance. Repentance is from the Greek word metanoia and it means to change your mind. In the Biblical sense it means to change your mind about your sin, to be sorry for it, and to be willing to turn away from it to follow Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. This is what God is patiently waiting for. God is waiting for people to recognize that He has been good to them. He is waiting for us to realize, even though we deserved it, Jesus Christ took the punishment for our sins. He is waiting for us to turn from our sins to follow Christ. God wants us to do this because we are grateful for what He has done for us. Are you grateful for what God has done for you? Does it matter to you that God hates your sins and that Jesus died on the cross for them? Are you sorry for your sins? If you haven't repented yet, you are telling God that you are not. You are showing God that you think lightly of His kindness, forbearance and patience. You are telling Him that it doesn't mean much to you at all.

Readings for today: Psalm 100:5, 145:9; Acts 14:16-17; 2 Pet. 3:9-10; 1 Pet. 3:18; 2 Cor. 5:14-15