Aimee  – January  2025 

The ache in the world feels sharper some days, doesn’t it? Like the weight of what’s wrong presses harder on our hearts. The injustice. The betrayal. The wounds we carry and the ones we’ve caused. It’s easy to wonder, where is God in all this?

There are moments when it feels like the world is broken beyond repair. The headlines echo with injustice, and our own hearts feel the weight of a brokenness that runs deep. It’s easy to become lost in that tension—How do we hold on to God’s love in a world that’s so full of pain? How do we represent God’s character in a world that often doesn’t know what to make of Him and when at injustice our blood, like Abels, cries out for justice and judgement, and yet we are called to love …  

We are instructed to love like God loves, but sometimes that feels like a contradiction, almost an injustice in itself – How can love be the answer when sin abounds and humanity is haemorrhaging under the weight of her own wickedness. Is love really the answer? What about justice?! 

To understand the solution and the mandate – we need to understand and know God’s heart in all its fullness. 

God is love, and yet, He is also a God of wrath. He is merciful, and yet, He demands justice. How do we faithfully represent a God who holds both in His heart, in His hands, in the very core of His being?

The answer is simply this – we to must embody both. We cannot represent God’s love without calling for repentance, and we cannot speak of His wrath without revealing His compassion. Both are wrapped up in the same heart, inseparable, and represent the fullness of God’s character to a world that so desperately needs both His love and His justice. We must hold both in balance, just as He does. 

“The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” (Exodus 34:6)

Mercy and grace. Steadfast love. Faithfulness. Those are words we cling to. But in the very next breath, God reveals another part of His heart:
“…but who will by no means clear the guilty…” (Exodus 34:7)

There it is. Wrath. Justice. God’s refusal to ignore sin. Because love that doesn’t confront evil isn’t love at all—it’s apathy.

God’s love is His wrath. 

His wrath is His love.

Two sides of the same coin, inseparable. Wrath is His holy anger against anything that destroys what He loves. It’s His passion for justice, His intolerance for the sin that wrecks His creation and wounds His children.

But here’s the scandal: His wrath didn’t destroy us. It should have. We deserved it. Instead, His wrath and His love collided at the Cross, and Jesus stood in the middle.

Wrath poured out on sin.

Love poured out on sinners.

Can you see it? The cross wasn’t just an act of mercy; it was an act of justice. It wasn’t just love; it was wrath, beautifully fulfilled. Every ounce of God’s holy anger against sin fell on Jesus. Every bit of His steadfast love was extended to you and me. 

Wrath satisfied. 

Love glorified. 

All in one breathtaking, heartbreaking moment.

And it had to be this way. Because a God who simply “sweeps sin under the rug” isn’t holy. And a God who doesn’t pursue sinners isn’t loving. But our God is both. He is just and merciful, holy and gracious, wrathful and tender—all at once.

That’s why the Cross is the centrepiece of everything. It holds together the things that seem like opposites but are perfectly united in God’s heart.

As for us, we cannot love people well without telling them the truth. And the truth is this: all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Without repentance, without turning from sin, we remain separated from God. But repentance isn’t seated in condemnation—but rather initiation. It invites people into the fullness of life that Jesus offers and relationship with Him.

“Do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4)

We speak of God’s mercy, His love, and His kindness, but we cannot do so without inviting people to respond. Love calls for a change, a turning, an about-face that leads us away from destruction and into the arms of a loving Savior. If we only speak of God’s love without this call to repentance, we cheapen it, turning His grace into a sentimental notion instead of the life-transforming power it is. Grace was never cheaply given- it cost the Father His Son. 

When injustices rage, it’s easy to speak of God’s wrath without compassion. It’s easy to point fingers, to condemn the world for its sin. But that’s not how God speaks of wrath. God’s wrath is rooted in His compassion.

His anger is against what destroys the people He loves. Wrath without compassion becomes harsh judgment that condemns rather than calls and there is no condemnation in His voice for those He longs to reach.

Wrath with compassion leads to redemption. It warns of the consequences of sin, but it also offers the way out—the Cross is where Justice and Love collide. As representatives of God’s character in this world, we must hold both His love and His wrath in tension. When we share His love, we must also call people to repentance. And when we speak of His justice, our speech is to be grounded in His deep compassion for those who are lost. The Gospel, after all, is both a warning and an invitation—an invitation to find refuge and relationship in the mercy of God and a warning that sin does not go unaddressed.

We have the responsibility to reflect both of these aspects of God’s character to a world that desperately needs both His love and His justice. When we do, we fulfill our calling as His image-bearers. The news we carry becomes the fullness of the Gospel and its good!  We show the world the heart of God—His mercy, His love, His wrath, and His compassion all woven together in the beautiful truth of the Cross.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

We can’t speak of God’s wrath without remembering that it is His love and compassion that put Jesus on the Cross. Jesus took the full weight of God’s wrath on Himself so that we might live. Wrath and love are not opposites; but are beautifully intertwined. And it’s in the Cross where we see them most fully. We cannot speak of wrath with pointing fingers and condemnation. We are beneficiaries of Grace and mercy, “..freely you have received so freely give…” (Matthew 10:8)

The question is, do you believe it?

That His wrath isn’t against you but against the sin that tries to destroy you?

That His love isn’t soft or fragile but fierce and unrelenting?

The Cross proves that God doesn’t love from a distance. He entered the mess, absorbed the wrath, and made a way for mercy to flow freely. 

Can you perceive that He died for the sinner, He hung for the guilty. Wrath born on His shoulders as mercy and water flowed from His side outstretched to those who would repent … and He desires that all are saved and come to know Him. (2 Peter 3 :9) 

We cannot live lost in the tension between these truths but we must be found in the place where they collide—the place where love and wrath meet, where justice and mercy coexist. To live anywhere less than that is to live in a half-truth and speak a half-gospel—one that either condemns or handicaps those we are called to set free.

This is the Gospel – the scandal of it: full, whole, and beautiful. It’s not a story of mercy without justice, or justice without mercy. It’s the story of a Savior who bore both so that we might experience the fullness of life He offers. 

Be blessed,

Aimee

Bold Existence Team