Wednesday, November 18, 2020

God doesn't need us, He delights in us

God doesn't need us but he does want and enjoy us. So why would God want us and how can he enjoy us if he doesn't need us?

God is not like we are. He operates on a totally different - infinitely higher plane than we do. We operate ¹out of need as finite, dependent creatures but God operates out of fullness i.e. overflow as the infinite giver and sustainer of life, love, and all things.

God enjoys us because he is a being of perfect and unlimited joy who from all eternity past gives and receives love, honor, and delight among the Father, Son, and Spirit. He is perfect fullness and love. He is perfect community. He is perfect contentment, joy, and bliss. He is life and the Source of life for everything else.

God doesn't need us because he has ²himself. He is not just full but overflowing


But, because he is a community of overflowing love and delight - he desires others share in the glory and joy of who he is as a perpetual overflow of love, glory, joy, and delight. 

When someone else finds delight in Him and partakes of His delight in Himself, He is delighted for them, by them, and in them. He loves it when others partake of His love, joy, and glory. 

In short, both God's independence from us and desire for us is because he has himself i.e. He is not only complete as a being, he is overflowing because of His completeness/perfection. He is perfect in love, glory, and joy. And because He is, He desires we too partake of Him and the fullness of His joy - bliss. 

In summary:

God loves perfectly because he is perfect love as Father, Son, and Spirit. He wants us to partake in Him.

God is independent. He doesn't need us because he is interdependent, self-sufficient, and overflowing within the Godhead. But is also overflowing to others for the same reason.

For related discussions about God see the following:

The importance and necessity of the Trinity 

The essence of God's life 

Thoughts on the Trinity 

Overview of Jonathan Edwards theology.

Why do the Father and Son love each other?

How are love and life connected

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¹Because we operate out of need it is hard for us to comprehend and relate to someone that only and perpetually operates out of perfect fullness and overflow. We simply can not relate to this from our own experience i.e. it is not how we operate as dependent but broken image-bearers of God.

²To be loved by the most perfect being is to be loved perfectly. Christ is the perfect image of the Father and therefore most highly regarded and loved by the Father. In response, Christ adores the Father in whose perfect image he is. He also desires we know and experience the Father in the same way - to the same extent - he experiences Him. 

To be loved perfectly is to be in a state of complete fullness, bliss, and contentment. This results in God overflowing in love which moves Him to share Himself with others – as Father, Son, and Spirit - so we - His image-bearers - can also participate in this (His) state of blissful union.


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Grace to you
Jim Deal