Wrath

God is not wrath. God is love. But if we refuse his love insistently enough, it can feel as if he is angry.

A few years ago I was in Rome. One of the most amazing things I saw in that ancient city was a widely dispersed but interconnected network of water fountains. There are over 2,500 of these fountains that flow non-stop with fresh spring water from the surrounding mountains. Unlimited, refreshing water. Available to anyone.

If you die of thirst in Rome it is, to put it bluntly, your own dumb fault.

God’s love and his Spirit are given without limit. If God’s wrath remains on anyone, it’s not because God wants it to, but because that person simply refuses to hold their empty cup beneath the ever-flowing fountain of his love.

Refusing God’s generous love feels like what we might call wrath, but really it’s just our own dumb fault