To believe in a powerful, sovereign God is misery if we do not also see that He is a loving, merciful God. In Paul's letter to the church at Colossae he exhorts them to "put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony" (3:14). There is a "unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (a state of reconciliation and love)" which unites all believers to one another and to Christ. Paul further addresses the Ephesians, "And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God" (Ephesians 5:2). We walk with Christ by walking in love, but until we see Christ's direction as love we will be unable to follow him thus.
Without love we are unbound. Unbound from each other and unbound from Christ. We depart from the body and we walk unfamiliar from Christ. Not literally, for it is God's love that saves us and keeps us, but relationally, emotionally, and conditionally we are wandering stray and unbound without love. So to know God as a powerful and sovereign God, but to forget that He is a loving God hinders us from walking near Him. We might fearfully tiptoe under His lordship, knowing that His hand has great might. But we cannot joyfully worship Him aside from resting in His love and mercy. Just cognitively knowing of God's love without putting it on and savoring it will do no good. We must learn the intimacy of our God. We must know God as loving and merciful or will shall find ourselves miserable and unbound.
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