Legal vs practical relationship with God II

Is there a difference between our legal relationship with God and our day to day relation? Are these completely separate or are they connected in some way? Let's take a closer look. 

Once we are in Christ the legal consequences of condemnation, separation and death are no longer a part of the dynamics of our relationship with God. They are entirely removed and can never be revisited by God -- nor ever should be by us. God’s disposition toward us is as if we trusted and obeyed him perfectly - even when we don’t since Christ did and fully credited this to us. God’s perfect infinite love is now permanently set upon us just as it is on His Son. His settled disposition of love and commitment to us is no longer tied to our trust or distrust in Him but solely to Christ's perfect trust lived out while he was on earth.

The practical consequences of our distrust of God, however, are still fully in play and have a very real impact on our ¹day-to-day relationship with God and fully participating in and experiencing this fixed love. Distrust may no longer be a legal issue on God's side, but it is still very much a practical one on ours. In fact, to the same extent it is not a legal issue, it still fully remains for us a practical one. 

We often mix these up and have a hard time keeping them separate. Both are equally true and significant in how we relate to God. 

If we don't have a clear and firm grasp on our perfect legal status we will look at God's commandments as something required of us to earn God's love. 

If we ignore our obedience i.e. our practical day to day walk with God, we will be ineffective and weak to nonexistent in displaying Him to others. 

When we recognize and focus on our legal standing in Christ we are not to forget the significance of our practical day to day relationship, trust, and pursuit of God and the need to **cultivate these. In fact, as our love and trust grow, this impacts our ongoing daily disposition toward God. The more we grasp His love for us -- legally secured for us by Christ's efforts -- the greater our trust grows. Though our legal standing and our trust are distinct issues they are vitally connected. The latter -- our ongoing relationship with God -- doesn't work until the former -- our righteous status -- is firmly understood and accepted. 

When we recognize and focus on the practical matter of our distrust we are not to revisit God's rejection and condemnation we were once under. In Christ, there is neither, regardless of whether we trust God or not and how much or little our trust is. God's acceptance of us has nothing to do with whether we trust and obey God or not. 

The practical consequences of distrust is an entirely separate matter from the legal consequences. The legal consequences are entirely removed, while the practical consequences are fully in play.

To illustrate, once a couple marries they are now husband and wife no matter how strong or strained their relationship is. Being married is their legal status -- they are husband and wife. Until they legally divorce they will remain husband and wife with all the benefits, responsibilities and obligations of that union e.g. they will not engage in sexual intimacy with others as they do with their spouse, to name the most obvious part of marriage. However, while together, they can become completely alienated from each other emotionally due to day to day offenses that might build up and result in distrust of each other. To build trust in the relationship does not legally make them more a husband and wife any more than they already are, it simply makes them a better husband and wife i.e. The practical outworking of their legal status of husband and wife is more fully -- and appropriately – expressed, experienced and demonstrated when trust is a vital part of the relationship. Trust in what? That their partner cherishes them above all others… to have and to hold til death do they part. Trust is tied to love. When we know we are loved, we more willingly submit to and trust the other; the greater that love the more easily we submit.  

So it is with God. If we are in Christ, we are a child of God. This is our legal status. However this does not in itself describe the quality of our relationship, it addresses our standing or status legally as His beloved children. To experience the full benefit of our status we must fully participate in a relationship of love and trust. 

When we trust that our parents love us, it is easiest to follow their directions/ wishes/will. The more we trust in their love the more willing we are and the more we desire to do what they ask i.e. the easier it is for us to follow their direction and submit to their wishes. To say it another way, we want to love them because we know (trust) they love us. The best way to show our love is to do what they want us to do.

But this is a two-way street. As a child proves themselves ³responsible i.e. trustworthy, the parent entrusts them with more responsibility and freedom. A genuinely loving parent always wants what’s best for their child. When they know the child will use things wisely – ⁴for their good and the good of others, not to their harm -- they will give them more freedom. They want this for their child more than anything, because they long for them to enter into the fullness of joy; the joy of experiencing the fullness of parents love and loving others with the love they have been given. 

This is who we are designed to be -- to receive love from our heavenly parent and out of the fullness of that love, overflowing in love to others, particularly our brothers and sisters in Christ. 

We may be fully loved and accepted in Christ regardless of what we do but this is entirely separate from our fully engaging, participating in and disseminating that love to others -- God first, then our neighbor. When we pull away in distrust from God it may no longer cause God to turn away from us, but in no uncertain terms, we can and are pulling away from Him. When we do, it cuts us off practically – we cut ourselves off, God doesn’t cut us off – from entering into the full joy of love God infinitely and relentlessly has for us.

For a summary of the difference between the legal and practical click here

For a further discussion on whether law and grace are in conflict click here.

For a discussion on the value of the law click here.

¹ignoring any relationship results in its weakening, whether that be with a spouse, our kids or God. We are relational beings, designed to give and receive love because God is relational and we are in His image. The more we give and receive love in any relationship, the stronger it becomes.  

²due to our ongoing rebellious distrust of God, even as His children. Not all kids fully trust their parents. We are no exception to our heavenly parent. 

³if you break down the word responsible it gives us some interesting insight. Response-able i.e. able to respond. Respond to what? To love. When we trust we are loved we respond in kind. To say it another way, when we love someone, we desire to do what they desire/wish/ask of us and are diligent in doing so. We desire to please them because we love them. Obedience is the fruit of trust, trust is the fruit of knowing we are loved. This is why Christ said, “if you love me you will keep my commandments...” Keeping his commandments is evidence of our love and something we desire to do, not something we feel required to do. This is also why John said, “...this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome...” It's not a burden to love someone who we know infinitely loves us. Note the verse also says "...this is the love of God...", not just our love i.e. our keeping his commandments starts with and springs out of his love for us. We respond to this love by obedience to His commandments. Doing something against our wills is drudgery. Doing something because we love the one we do it for is delightful. We do it because we want to do it not because we have to. If we are not obedient children, we don't buckle down and force ourselves to do better, we more diligently seek God to reveal his love more fully. 

⁴I am assuming they will also use whatever they are given to honor the giver, but this is a side point to one I am making... so I am putting it here as a footnote. 

Longing for perfect love (poem)

Longing for Perfect love

by Jim Deal

Love on the big screen before us played. 
Longing for perfect love, in sight. 

"Happy ever after” clearly displayed.  
Hearts pulled in like moths to light. 

Perfect Love uncovers longing concealed.
Seeing, hoping for Perfect Love.

Something missing our hearts reveal.
Hungering, aching for perfect love.

Deep within, love echos profound.
Longing, hungering for perfect love.

Smiling inside when perfect love is found. 
Seeking, longing for perfect love.

Only Divine Love alone can fill
Finding, resting finally in Perfect Love

 

















#poems

Why life is a struggle

Though most put a good face on things we all regularly,  often quietly - sometimes loudly - experience pain. Everything we do involves struggle – emotionally, mentally, and physically. 

Everything is also running down? Things decay, we get sick, age, and eventually die. 

God’s warning to Adam was the day he rebelled from following God's direction, he would die i.e. by breaking off trust in God, he severed his union and relationship with Him and died spiritually, ultimately leading to physical death. This suggests if Adam and Eve hadn’t eaten from the forbidden tree, they would have lived indefinitely, apparently forever because of access to the tree of life. 

Though death is common – we all die – it is not normal. It is not a part of life as God originally designed it; its an ¹aberration.

Though pain is not supposed to be part of our existence, it is. Everything we do encounters resistance. We always experience thorns and thistles as God warned. We are also in bondage to our emptiness - lacking what we need to be filled. 

The entire world is in bondage as well due to our disconnect. 

So is the creation, at no fault of its own. This is why it is described as eagerly awaiting our complete reunion with God's children and the full expression of our original design to properly and fully cultivate and care for - vs exploit - the earth to the glory of God.

Why does death occur when we are not connected to God? We were created for life because we were created to be in an ongoing relationship with God, who is ²life. We were not designed to operate without Him. To do so is like a child in utero having the umbilical cord cut before the child is born. The child will still experience something of the mother's care and protection -- not unlike we now experience all the benefits of creation. But without the life force of the mom freely flowing to the child, the child will soon die, even in the womb. 

Without being connected to God who is the source of life, love, and all things we ³died spiritually and will eventually die in every other way over time - i.e. at some point - if we don't know him. We will totally disconnect not just from God but from all created things we now use and benefit from. 

God is the central and most vital aspect of who we are. Our being like God - in His image - isn’t simply some esoteric theological concept or theory. It has very practical implications. Our disconnection from God carries over and affects everything else about us emotionally, intellectually, and physically. 

Emotionally we are in a constant state of longing for something more, something missing, resulting in a longing, sometimes an ⁴aching to be filled. In our quietest moments when we are isolated from everyone -- think of solitary confinement or the movie "Cast Away"-- we become aware of how much we are emotionally and spiritually alone and in pain. 

Mentally we grow weary because nothing works long-term. Things always wear down, corrode or break and must be repaired. 

Physically we get sick and eventually die.

We long for love - or significance...a primary way to feel loved; also for rest (peace) from struggle and for boundless energy (power), so we never grow tired. This is why so many emotionally connect with superheroes. We vicariously live out our longings to feel powerful and significant through these characters on the big screen.

Isn’t it interesting how the best movies also have a love interest in them? There is something about us that longs for perfect love. When we see a “happy ever after” scenario played out in a relationship, our hearts are pulled in like a moth to light. This resonates deeply within us all. The most successful movies always have a love story intertwined. We smile inside when we see perfect love found and experienced. We all long, hunger, even ache for perfect love. And that is because we were designed for it. 

-- Longing for Perfect Love -- a poem

God alone moves and fills us

Without God filling, enlivening, and empowering us, we can not do what we are designed to do in the way we were designed to do it. We simply don’t function properly without being “plugged in” to our life source; the life source. 

We were designed to operate fully connected to God without obstruction or interruption. This is not our present experience. Even if we are His beloved children, with the condemnation of our rebellion completely removed, and perfect access to God's infinite love to empower us by His Spirit (of love) indwelling us, we still see and experience His love through a glass darkly because we now operate by faith, not by sight. We are not yet in the immediate, full, and unobscured presence of the God of bottomless love in all His glory.

Even at our best and in ideal circumstances, we struggle. When things go well we have a quiet (or loud) nagging fear they will stop going well. It is the nature of our present condition and the world we live in. As Christ said, "In this world, you will have tribulation/trouble/ pain..." But he also said, "Take heart for I have overcome the world..." which means we can too, and completely will one day in Him. 

We are told one day faith and hope will no longer be necessary, only love, because we will literally and physically be fully in the presence of the fullness of love and life i.e. God Himself. Then there will be no need for faith and hope. The fullness of joy, meaning, and purpose we have sought, believed in, and hoped for all our lives will be right in front of us, in us, and all around us, filling us up and overflowing out of us in praise and wonder. 

But until then, we will not be fully who we were designed to be. We cannot now because we were designed to engage and fully participate in the unfettered, unencumbered presence of God. Until we are completely and totally united with God – glorified -- and in His presence, everything's a struggle – which is why we are promised that one day there will be no more tears or pain. Because Christ overcame sin, pain, and death, if we are in him we too will overcome these. There is a resurrection for us because there was for Christ. If we are his and he is ours, this is our sure hope as His children.

Romans 8:
²³ Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴ For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

Everything is struggle - a poem

For a further discussion on how God uses evil and pain for our good click here. 
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¹For an additional discussion on why death is an aberration click here.

²God is life because God is love. For several posts on this click here.

³What is the essence of our spirit, our energy, our life? Since we are like God, who is Spirit, we must look to Him and examine what he’s like for the answer. The Spirit of God consists of the vibrant energy and passion (breath) of God within the relationship of love between the Father and Son. So much so we are told God is both Spirit and love. It doesn’t say God merely has these attributes but that he is these. These are the essence of His being. The relationship of the Father and Son is one of passion, joy, delight, love, and adoration the Father has for the Son and the Son for the Father. This is a relationship that recognizes and acknowledges the infinite beauty and worth of the other and the delight they experience in union with each other. 

It is this relationship of adoration, joy, and glory we too were designed to partake in. This is why we long for love, recognition, meaning, a sense of significance, etc. We were created to receive adoration, joy, and glory in and through God and reflect these back to Him, who is the source, in the very same way the Father and Son relect these back and forth to each other. This is the essence of the Life, Spirit and Love of God the Father and Son, but of us as well because we are like God, the most significant of all. We are designed to be in relationship with Him. Without being connected to this relationship of adoration, joy, and glory between the Father and Son, in, by, and through the Spirit, we are now absent these while at the same time still needing them to fully be who we were designed to be. We still need to adore and be adored; to glory in God’s infinite worth and be gloried in it i.e. adored and cherished. We are designed to find infinite joy in God and experience his infinite joy -- Spirit -- in us in the exact same way this occurs between the Father and the Son. This is the never-ending mode we were created for; a state of perpetual, infinite bliss because this is who God is and we are like Him. 

What kind of being is it that never sleeps or grows tired and weary?

Isa 40:25 To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing.27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”? 28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

What energizes God is the joy, adoration, and glory that flows – via the Spirit – between the Father and Son. This Spirit of joy, adoration, and glory never wanes or stops, therefore neither does God. When we are fully plugged into this God and this life, neither do we nor will we throughout eternity. We will be in a constant and ever-growing state of bliss because God is in a constant state of bliss. 

When God rested on the seventh day from creating, it simply means he finished creation, not because he was tired but because he was done. Everything was completed, finished.

Rev 21:22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb (lamp being the instrument through or by which the light/glory is displayed). 24 By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, 25 and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there (i.e. the Son will always be present).

We simply can’t relate to never being tired. But this is who we were created to be. The fact that God warned that the day man rebelled he would die, tells us death was not part of man’s original design. Growing weary and tired, in constant need of rest is part of the fall. Something within us isn’t quite right. We are always running down, in need of being recharged. We are incomplete, unplugged and disconnected. As a result, we are always in need of being emotionally, mentally and physically recharged. Not unlike what happens with a computer. Every so often they must be shut off so things can reset. 

In eternity, our operating system will be flawless and never in need of being turned off or reset. We will run perfectly because we will be reconnected again with the ultimate and perfect source of life and love. God will be our infinite power supply and He never runs down.

Though we will never grow tired we will continue to be physically strengthened by food. Scripture seems to indicate we will eat not just for enjoyment but nourishment. Food was part of the experience of Adam and Eve before their rebellion. Christ also ate after the resurrection. Though our bodies will be glorified we are still physical and still part of creation i.e. still dependent on sustenance both spiritually – which will be Christ – and physically. 

⁵The true nature of our longing/wanting is obscured and also numbed to a great extent. This is why the scripture describes our being restored to God as having hearts of stone being replaced with hearts of flesh. Stone feels nothing, flesh feels everything. For a further discussion on this and the anatomy of pain click here.

Publishing my first book

Dear blogger subscribers and followers

I will be publishing my first book spring of 2021. Lord willing this will be the first of several. I'll be starting with 365 days of inspirational quotes.  I am looking for a team of folks who will read it (a free copy of course) and give their assessment -- or feedback. If you're interested in being a part of that group leave me a comment below or you can email me directly at thotsaboutGod@gmail.com. I will have more details in the near future on what ways you can help spread the word if interested. 

Grace to you
Jim

Everything is struggle (poem)

Everything is struggle

by Jim Deal

Everything is struggle

Emotionally 
Mentally 
Physically

There is decay
Sickness
Aging
Death

In our Rebellion
Trust was broken
Relationship severed
Creation shackled

Designed 

For God
For love
For life

We long

For love
For strength
For rest

We grow weary
Through a glass dimly see
One day face to face we'll be
In His presence utterly free

Hope infinite

Tears no more

Love unobstructed

Life boundless


There will be God


And we will see all of Him

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For an extended discussion of what I expressed above, click here.

#poems

Why do the the Father and Son love each other?

What is it exactly that the Father loves about the Son and the Son about the Father?

The Father is the initiator, the first cause of all things, which makes Him the most valuable and worthy of highest regard, adoration, and praise over all beings. Nothing comes close to the infinite worth of God. All life comes from Him, all love, all beauty, all power, all knowledge - everything good and right is from God.

The Son is the means by which the Father reveals himself and acts out these qualities toward His creation – creation being everything that ¹comes from God that is not God. Without Christ, we would not know or see God as He truly is. To see Christ is the see the Father. And if we wish to see God we must see Christ. Christ “… is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being...” (Heb 1:3a). The Father delights in being known so others might find life and joy in Him and therefore He delights in ²Christ making Him known.

Because the Son willingly and delightfully agreed(s) to be the means by which the Father reveals Himself -- in and through His incarnation, death, and resurrection -- the Father has utmost regard, adoration, delight, and praise for the Son. Because the Father initiates all of this, the Son has the utmost regard, adoration, delight, and praise for the Father.

And where does the Spirit fit into this triumvirate (threefold) relational dynamic? The Spirit is God or to say it as the bible does, God is Spirit. The life, love, Spirit of God is the essence of God as the ultimate relational being. The Spirit ties, units, and holds (or binds if you will) the triune community together. The love of the Father for the Son and the Son for the Father occurs in, by, and through the Spirit. The Spirit is the infinite ³love and delight of this relationship between the Father and Son as well as the means by which this love and delight occurs, is revealed, overflows, and is poured out on others. Without the Spirit, there would be no God or love between the Father and Son. Without love and delight between the Father and Son, there is no Spirit, no God. 

For an extended discussion on the Spirit, click here. 

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*Christ also comes forth from God as the ¹only begotten of the Father. But this is not something that occurs at a point in time. The Son has always been - i.e. He is eternally begotten (issues forth)… is and will always be the only eternally begotten of the Father - i.e. the Son is God and the only eternally begotten being who is. Though He is not creation, he is begotten i.e. as the creation issues forth from God so does Christ but without a beginning. Christ has always (eternally) issued forth from the Father. The creation issues forth from the Father also but has a beginning and also issues forth through the Son. Without the Son, there would be no creation. Neither would there be a direct and personal revelation of God.

¹ “only begotten” indicates his begetting is unique to all other beings or things that come from (are begotten of) the Father. That uniqueness of the Son’s begetting is that it is an eternal begetting, making the Son equal to the Father, not equal to creation, and distinct from creation as well. He is the means by which creation came to be.

Christ is begotten and eternal at the same time. This is significant since begetting implies a beginning. There is no beginning with Christ. He is eternal and has always been. 

This is why he is the only begotten Son. He is one of a kind. He is the God/man and the connection between God and man. He holds the Father's hand in one of his hands and our hand in the other, if you will. God and man unite by Him, through Him, and in Him. For these reasons also, the Father loves and delights in His Son. 

For a more extended discussion on "only begotten" click here. 

**The Father also delights in you and I showing forth and making Him known to others. We too are image-bearers of the Father but created, not eternal as the Son is (though we are everlasting). So we are like the Son - but without all the "Omni's" - omnipresent, omniscient etc... at least in our current state (we don't know what we shall be but when we see him we will be like him - which is why Christ is called our elder brother and the first fruits of all creation). 

Since we are now righteous in Christ and to the same degree as Christ - i.e. perfectly righteous - he views and addresses us only as sons and daughters of God, wholly cherished, only loved, never rejected or forsaken.

***We could also characterize this love and delight as passionate. It is so intense it issues forth as a distinct being who is the Spirit. 

Passion originally referred to the intense emotions that occur in suffering, hence the “passion of Christ.” I am using passion in a positive sense. But the intense and passionate love the Son has for the Father and the Father for the Son and the love they both have for us, His image-bearers, compelled Christ to take on the suffering He endured to restore us back to the Father. 

This delight/love/passion occurs as the Father and Son behold the beauty of the other. This has been referred to by past theologians (Jonathan Edwards particularly) as the “beatific vision.” This is the delight the Father and Son have in and for each other as they behold the beauty of the other. It is also the delight God calls us to participate in once we are restored to the Father in and through Christ. For a further discussion on beatific vision click here.

Other posts related to the beatific vision 

The importance and necessity of the Trinity 

The essence of God's life 

Thoughts on the Trinity 

Overview of Jonathan Edwards theology.