When we speak about the attributes of people, we are referring to characteristics that they possess and have displayed. For instance, we may say that “she has a lot of patience”, because we have observed her in pressure situations. Or we may say that “he has a lot of love for his family “, because we have watched him in family surroundings. But we may also say that someone has anger issues, because we have seen them explode on occasion. It is fairly easy for us to separate a person from their attributes.
With God, we should not so easily separate His attributes apart from who He is. Lamentations 3:22-23 says, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Every morning, when we wake up, we can expect God to give us new mercies and steadfast love. The mercies are not new because He whipped up a new batch of mercy overnight. They are new because we need different kinds of mercy every day, for the new struggles and troubles we will go through each day. These mercies are not something that He possesses, they are, in fact, who He is. God is love. God is mercy. And God is faithful. These attributes, and many others, are who He is, not characteristics He possesses. He has always been love and mercy, and will always be love and mercy, because He is always faithful to His nature.
Reluctant Retiree 