First, I have to apologize for my brief hiatus. My full-time gig as a writer keeps me pretty busy. By the end of a normal day, I often have few words left to speak, let alone write. Add the upcoming wedding of a son to the mix, and you have one thinly stretched woman. Unfortunately, all this stretching has not added an iota to my height.

But back to words. Little time means little time for games. But I did play along with a recent Facebook game when a friend asked me to list six things most people wouldn’t know about me: 

1. My babysitter in D.C. forced me to eat raspberries when I was sick, and I threw them up. To this day, I can’t stand even the smell of them. I’m vindicated by the fact that raspberry flavoring comes from beaver butt sack. No joke.

2. I used to curl up in the top floor of the public library reading doctoral theses in psychology for fun.

3. I received my first voice lessons in community theater as a child.

4. I represented my school statewide in French and psychology (big shock there).

5. I turned down a demo with Warner Brothers because I wanted to be a wife and mom above all else.

6. I’m ridiculously clumsy and accident-prone, so I often break toes and sometimes larger bones.

But all that got me thinking about a more important thing: things people should know about God. So instead of six things (the number of man, by the way), I’ll give you seven things (representing perfection) about God:

God is much easier on you than you are on yourself. You know how you beat yourself up when you mess up? You know how you refuse to let something go? God isn’t like that. Though He’s all-knowing, He chooses to forget confessed sin.

“As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” – Psalm 103:12

“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” – Hebrews 8:12

Not only is He quick to forgive but He’s also slow to anger.

“The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sins and rebellion.” – Numbers 14:18

2. God is holy, and He wants us to be holy. What does it mean to be holy? It means to be undefiled and without sin. For us, it means to be empty of our conflicted, tempted flesh and filled with the goodness and purity of Christ. 

“For it is written, “Be holy, because I am holy.” – 1 Peter 1:16

“Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.” – 2 Corinthians 7:1

3. Speaking of which, stop thinking about God as some “old man upstairs.” He demands reverence, which you can think of as respect on steroids. Imagine you were meeting a dignitary. Would you give him a high-five and say, “Hey, dude! What’s happening?” More likely, you would practice your best manners and measure every word that came out of your mouth. Now amplify that mindset a thousandfold when approaching/talking about/thinking about God.

“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.” – Hebrews 12:28

4. The God of the Old Testament is the God of the New Testament. Think about that notion of God as a consuming fire. That’s the image we have of the God of the Old Testament. But people like to think of Jesus as this warm, fuzzy teddy bear of a guy – you know, the kind who calls people vipers and overturns tables at the temple. They don’t want to confront the reality that God can be love and just. But God is unchanging. For that we should be thankful.

“God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and then not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?” – Numbers 23:19

5. God entertains more thoughts about you than your biggest crush ever did. Have you ever been in love? Everything reminds you of the object of your affection. Unless you stop breathing, you can’t seem to stop thinking about him. But the sum of all those romantic thoughts is a trifle compared with God’s thoughts about you.

“How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand.” – Psalm 139: 17-18

6. God doesn’t make mistakes, which means you can’t be one of them. Some people mix false humility with blasphemy when they actually find themselves saying, “Well, God certainly made a mistake when He made me.” Well, no, He didn’t. He is perfect and, therefore, incapable of mistakes. So accept who He made you to be and give Him the glory for it.

“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful. I know that full well.” – Psalm 139:14

He is the Rock, His works are perfect, and all His ways are just. A faithful God who does not wrong, upright and just is He.” – Deuteronomy 32:4

7. He is coming back soon. Two thousand-plus years ago, He kept repeating:

“Behold, I am coming soon!” – Revelation 22:7

“Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with Me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.” – Revelation 22:12

“He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” – Revelation 22:20

So if God cannot lie and cannot change His mind because of His perfect, holy nature, can we trust Him to keep His word? That’s a rhetorical question and not even worth answering. But this one is: What will you be doing when He does return? Will He find you faithful?