It’s a bit cool this Monday morning in Lower Alabama.
I have some peace lilies 
to
enjoy here in my quiet library.
Have you found something this morning that brings a smile of gratitude to you?
A buttered bagel helps too. :)
Perhaps tomorrow I’ll be here again with a Word or two.
GOD is love.
We hear it and hear it.
It’s about all we do hear about GOD.
And yet hearing only GOD is love, instead of drawing people to Him, I believe, has emboldened people to sin without remorse and indeed not repentance.
No, remorse and repentance are not synonymous.
The preaching of GOD is love alone has given the world a license to sin, not only a license to sin but to applaud and flaunt their sins and the sins of their peers.
There is no fear of GOD preached and most people in and out of professing Christianity are not afraid to practice sin.
I can tell you, I did not come to GOD for salvation because I heard GOD is love.
I came because I didn’t want to go to hell and I heard He would save me from it – if I turned from my sin TO HIM.
And, of course, that meant He loved me — why else would He save me, other than loving me?
What am I saying?
That we must preach the truth — He is love but He is Angry with a capital A.
Yes, angry.
There was a sermon preached on July 8, 1741, by Johnathan Edwards.
Ever heard of it?
Allow me to offer you (in part) a modern-day opinion of this sermon written by Josh Moody:
“On this day in history, Jonathan Edwards started a sermon that he did not finish. Such was the impact of his preaching that the people listening shrieked and cried out, and the crying and weeping became so loud that Edwards was forced to discontinue the sermon. Instead, the pastors went down among the people and prayed with them in groups. Many came to a saving knowledge of Christ that day.
What can we learn from Edwards’s preaching of “Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God?”
We Should Not Be Afraid to Preach Hell
Edwards is unfairly tarnished as only a hell-fire preacher. Read Charity and Its Fruits. Read many of his other sermons that discourse upon the beauty of Christ. Preaching on hell was not unusual in 18th-century New England. What made Edwards’s sermon impactful was not that he preached on hell, but how he preached on hell. By contrast, we rarely (if ever) even mention hell from our pulpits today. Surely in the future, the church will look back on our age and recount it as the strangest fashion that we preached on God’s love without preaching God’s justice or wrath. There is little biblical balance in our preaching today.” Josh Moody. (2018)
Now, if you want to read the preserved sermon, here are two links:
https://www.blueletterbible.org/study/he_is_risen/jonathan_edwards/sinners.cfm
Yes, GOD is love.
Not that He loves but He Himself IS love.
Because He is love, He has no alternative but to be Angry, at all that falls short of LOVE.
Click HERE for some verses about this Wrath of GOD.
What does that mean?
It means we must be perfect like GOD is perfect. Matthew 5:48
Are you saying, You can’t do it?
Neither can I.
BUT JESUS DID!
Yes. Love and anger go hand in hand.
GOD is indeed love but do not be deceived, He is also perfectly and justly angry.
How fortunate for us that He is slow to pour out his anger and is patient and is not willing that anyone perish.
But obviously, people do perish EVERY DAY so . . .
We got to preach this!
Would you classify yourself as an avid reader?
I have more books on my list to read than I will get read in 2 years, much less this year of 2023.
How many minutes a day do you allot for reading? Or do you not have a daily allotment dedicated to exploring books?
Do you prefer paper and ink in hand or is digital reading your preference?
Of course, I do the on-screen reading every day but I prefer a paper and ink book in my hand.
What was the best book you read last year?
Do you read a variety of genres of books or have you pretty much found your reading niche?
I didn’t read as much in 2022 as I should have and I plan, LORD willing, to read much more this year. 
Do you have reading recommendations for me? I have received 2 title suggestions so far and have both of them on order — they should arrive soon.
What’s my point with this unusual type of post for me?
Just a little conversation. Just an effort to hear from you from the other side of this screen.
Please consider with me how highly favored we are to be able to read. There are yet people in this world who do not have this fine privilege.
And consider with me that GOD has enabled us to be well-read.
Let us not waste it.
Daniel 1: 17 To these four boys God had given knowledge and skill in every aspect of learning and wisdom; moreover, Dani’el could understand all kinds of visions and dreams. source
Perhaps you will read Daniel 1 and discover the place and time of these young men who were indeed well-read.
Introduce your children to reading early — preferably while they are still in the womb. 
