{{2013_12_05_t1.jpg}} {{2013_12_05_t2.jpg}} {{2013_12_05_t3.jpg}} [[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/de/doku.php/jn_de_2013_12_05|Deutsche Version]] [[Start|| Wiki Start]] [[topics_collection_v|| Topics Collection v ]] ======Advent 5: God is purer than you think! ...====== Thursday, Dec 5, 2013. One of the most striking and breathtaking things about God is his purity. What is it about? Do you have an idea about purity, about holiness, about how God is? {{2013_12_05.jpg }} **God is Holy ...** Recently I have been trying to describe God's purity somehow. How to find words to capture it appropriately. I found an image of a little child, a boy one year of age, who was laughing at me. I thought: that captures one of the features of God. There is no fraudulent intent in his eyes. He does not plan to harm you. He is not even egoistic - he is to young to be so. He is just there, and comes to you with open eyes and an open mouth. He is, as far as we can use that word for it, pure! God is a little bit like that. Of course, God is intelligent - again the word is far too weak for the wisdom of the Most High. But God is not coming to us with bad intent. He can be extremely dangerous, when his anger turns against violence, against ignorance, against evil. But that is not the main feature of him, when it comes to his character. In 1 King 19, there is the story of the Prophet Elia, who wanted to meet the Lord. Hear, what happened: {{ 2013_12_05_2.jpg}} 11 And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.1 13 And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” **How Jesus reacts ... ** When we want to explore the Holiness of God, we should study the way Jesus acts and Jesus reacts. He is God, living with us. He is the eternal Lord, being a human among us. The way he talks to people, the way he reacts, reflects how God is. I had to think about the story with the woman who committed adultery. The other people were there to stone her. She had committed a deep crime. But Jesus was writing on the floor. (John 8) 1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” 6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” Jesus does not condemn her. He does not like, what she did. He commands her, not to do it again. But he does not come with force, or with condemnation. He comes with an open heart, and with salvation. The holiness of God combines his justice and his love. (Roland Potthast) [[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/en/doku.php/topics_collection_v|... more texts]]