(This is Part 2 of a series.  You must read the prior Notion Devotion - Impartial Law-Officer, to understand this series). 

Impartial Lover is the title of a lover without bias.  The one and only true God loves without prejudice making the title of Impartial Lover an aspect of God’s character we need to understand more intimately.     

We consider some people to be worse than other people.

Sometimes the thought slides in almost unaware concerning someone’s look, status, or hygiene.  Somehow the person seems less deserving.

Other times we know that person is wrong.    

God loves.  He provides.  He is sympathetic, tender, responsive, compassionate, and merciful, to the acceptable as well as the unacceptable. 

You would not want God any other way.  A god who is not an impartial lover would have powerless, empty, and whimsical love that you could never be certain would remain.  

That is the kicker to an Impartial Lover God: he wants a relationship with everyone.  So, He gave his life-blood to make relationship possible.
 
Jesus said,  "You're familiar with the old written law, 'Love your friend,' and its unwritten companion, 'Hate your enemy.'  I'm challenging that. I'm telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty.”  Matt 5:43-45 (MSG)

1. Who are your unacceptable?
2. Pick just one person you deem unacceptable and respond to that person with the energies of prayer, then note what happens?
3. What is the biggest sacrifice you have made in the name of Love?
4. Do you pray out of your true self?
5. Why can you be certain God’s love remains with you?

Currently I am reading A Field Guide to God: A Seeker's Manual by Patty Kirk.  I was intrigued because of this review:

'Kirk earned applause (and a PW starred review) for Confessions of an Amateur Believer, an honest account of what it means to develop an intimate relationship with God in a culture that, like the doubting apostle Thomas, wants to 'see' before believing. Her new work takes readers on a guided tour, so to speak, of God's markers along life's pathways, teaching readers to recognize them. Above all else, the author is a thinker, and Christian readers, as well as others, will appreciate Kirk's concern to make certain her facts are solid before presenting any theological statements. Especially effective is Kirk's section on inattention, or as she terms it, 'the skill we lose as we age.' Kirk blames maturation as part of the problem for most adults. Unlike children, who notice everything, adults only pay attention to what pertains to them at that particular moment, thus missing much of what is really happening. Wonderfully written and intellectually vigorous, the book offers a picture of Kirk as she wrestles with her faith in ways that make God manifest in the world for others.' --Publishers Weekly

The idea of God being an Impartial Law-Officer punishing every crime committed is dismissed by a generation filled with cheap grace and unaccountable freedom. 

The title Impartial Law-Officer is a correct picture of one aspect of the only true God.  It is a very real part of our Loving God’s character.  Every child has an innate desire for fairness.  “It’s not fair” you hear a child cry.  Adults cry, "Where's justice?" when someone sins against us: murderer, embezzler, rapist, adulterer, sexually impure, liar, thief, gossiper, sinner.

 God cannot abide sin, cannot allow us to be less than He designed.  He demands life-blood for sin. 

If you were honest with yourself, you wouldn’t want any less of God.  A god who did not have the character of an Impartial Law-Officer would be a powerless invention of man without fairness or strength over evil.  There would be no true justice.

Here is the kicker to this Impartial Law-Officer: he wants a relationship with you and wants it to be forever.  So, He died in your place, gave his life-blood. 

NIV 1 Peter 1:17-19
Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.  For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

1. Do you have made up ideas or superstitions about God?
2. Does it mean anything to you that Jesus died in your place?
3. Is there sin you can live with?
4. Are you at home here or is this a place you live as a stranger?
5. What is reverent fear?

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Who are you?  How do you see yourself?

  Do you say: “Hey, I’m only human.”  There are people who deny themselves adoption into the family of God who can say they are only human all the time. 
  We who are not outside of the Kingdom of God must say more.  God has adopted us into his family.  We are not only human, we are Children of God.  We are the beloved of Christ.  And as Children of God and Jesus’ beloved, we are provided with the power to overcome sin. 
  So, why do children and beloved people of God use the “Hey, I’m (you’re) only human,” excuse?  Is it to avoid the truth? to put off the consequence? to continue in the sin?  to give empty absolution? To dodge responsibility?
                                 God has given us a great gift, loved us so much He paid for our sin. 
  Next time you are tempted to sin and want to say, “Hey, I’m only human,” say instead, “Hey, I’m a child of God,” and see if that doesn’t change your perspective and course of action.
  After sin, instead of saying, “Hey, I’m only human,” try saying, “I’m a child of God.”  This can lead you to repentance, a fresh start, and valued self image. 
  Romans 8:15-16a (MSG)  15 This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?"  God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are.
  1. Are you living a timid, grave-tending life?
  2. Do you believe you are a child of God?  Why or why not?
  3. As a unique child of God, how would you like to express your gratitude?
  4. What has it meant to you to be the “beloved” of God?
  5. Are you worthy? No, no one is worthy.  Then, why are you a valued member of God’s family?