God is nonstop love, beauty and glory!

As the Father and Son behold the infinite beauty and glory of the other they experience infinite, overflowing joy, and delight in, by, and through the Spirit. Each is the very heart and center of the others affections. We could say each is the unceasing, passionate "heartbeat" and central ¹focus of the other.

By beholding and loving the other and experiencing love and delight in that beholding, each member of our ⁶three person God experiences their ⁶greatest joy and glory (worth, significance, etc). They are passionately moved to extol or glorify the other and lazer focused on doing so. They have always delighted in each other from all eternity past and will continue for all eternity future with or without us.

Joy, love, and delight are the fruit of their beholding the infinite glory and beauty of the other. Experiencing infinite delight, joy and significance in beholding each other drives all their actions. Bringing greater joy and significance (glory) to the other (among and within the Father, Son, in, by, and through the Spirit first, but also ⁹overflowing to us as His image bearers) is their primary aim. This is what moves God to do everything He - they - do. 

God calling us to love Him and our neighbor is simply an extention and reflection of what God is like i.e. this is who God is and He calls us to be like Him. 

God is ⁸full because he already is - and has - perfect joy and infinite worth (glory) within Himself as the most significant (glorious) being of all. From Him everything else came and depends on for existance. 

Actually He is not just full but ⁹overflowing. And this is because of the perfectly magnificent beauty, majesty and glory of each person within the Godhead. To behold the perfection of the other evokes infinite admiration, joy, delight, and love for the other in, by, and through the Spirit. 

The Spirit is God, manifested by and in passionate love (breath) between the Father and Son. This is who God is. He is passionate love and He is infinite Spirit. 

The Spirit is the life (energy, wind) and very breath of God. Without breath, God - like us - no longer functions. To breathe is to live and to live we must breathe. So it is with God.

The Spirit is central and vital to who God is. The Spirits role is unique from the Father and Sons role and vital to the relationship between them as well as emanating from and manifested by that relationship.

This means each person within the Godhead is continuously giving and receiving perfect love from the other who is equally perfect and their equal in beauty and love yet also unique in function. Each loves perfectly and evokes in the other perfect love and delight because of their unique and perfect beauty and glory. They are all God together, not separately. For God to be God, they all must be together in a perfect union of beauty and delight. 

The Father and Son are a union, community, and fellowship of nonstop love and motion in, by, and through the Spirit. An infinite and perpetual self sustained love ⁷generator, if you will, that never stops "running" and has always been from all eternity past long before creation. Creation is an outward manifestation of who God is as infinite and perpetual love/Spirit.

God is the "I AM" i.e. the self existent One who had no beginning or end. He depends on no one or any created thing because He has and delights in Himself as Father and Son in, by, and through the Spirit. Everything and everyone else comes from Him, exists by Him and points back to him.

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.

To Him be the glory forever! Amen

Because of this, God's love is other oriented and focused, not self focused. First between the  Father, Son, and Spirit but also out to others who are like him i.e. In his image. In short God is not selfish but - as a community of 3, with each focused on the infinite beauty and glory of the other - full and overflowing. 

Our 3 person God is continuously engaged in giving, receiving and overflowing in love within the community of Father and Son, in, by and through the Spirit. God has never been alone (or lonely) from all eternity past, nor will He ever be. He is not moved to get or take but only to give because He already is all glorious, always full and overflowing with love from and for another. 

When a husband beholds the beauty (glory) of his wife and partakes of it and a wife partakes of and experiences the strength (glory) of her husband it evokes within each a delight for the other. A delight so great that their Union is like another person. They are no longer two separate individuals but a new and distinct union of love. 

So it is with God who, unlike us, is perfectly beautiful, all glorious, infinitely strong, and continuously overflowing in love.

In God all theses qualities are perfect - nothing can be added to or taken away from God for Him to be all that He is - and all this is without end i.e. we can never reach the full height, breadth or depth of our experience of the infinite God...ever. Throughout eternity we will increasingly experience and participate in more of our infinite God. 

In light of who God is, He must be and is the center of all things. He is the most glorious, lovely, valuable, worthy and significant of all beings and things. 

Without God their would be no beauty, no delight, no joy, no love, no creation, no us... in short no life i.e. there would be no-thing. 

Everything else that is - other than God - is because of God. Nothing would be if He were not. The very existence of everything else is solely because of this dynamic, vibrant, nonstop overflowing God of love as Father and Son in, by and through the Spirit. 

This is why He is always calling us to glorify Him. It's not because He needs us, but because we need Him in order to participate in all He created us to be and experience i.e. we are created to experience Him in the fullness of His beauty-glory. We are designed to find our greatest glory and joy in experiencing His. His calling us to glorify Him is the most loving thing He can do for us - as well as the most honoring thing we can do for him. Our praises of him throughout eternity will be the spontaneous response to beholding him in all his majesty and glory. Just like the praises of the Father for the Son and the Son for the Father in, by, and through the Spirit. 

Life without God:

To live in order to take or get (vs give) is static - and stagnant. It centers on and ends with those who ²seek to operate this way. It is like the dead end on a one way street that ends with me (or anyone who operates without God's love moving them to love others). There is no flow through of traffic because the street does not connect to any others. It is a dead end.

To use another analogy it is like the Dead Sea in Israel. There is no life in it because its isolated with nothing flowing out. The opposite of the Sea of Galilee which is full of life with a source and exit for that life to come and go.

God's life is also dynamic, not static - because of the infinite beauty of the persons within the Godhead. Each is infinitely beautiful and glorious; each captures and delights the heart of the other and is focused on the others infinite value. 

This results in love always flowing back and forth within and among our Triune God - out to the other and continually received (reflected) back in admiration and delight. The infinite worth and glorious beauty of God is what  drives and moves God Himself and everything else as a result.

God is life and love because he is the infinitely beautiful and glorious community of Father, Son and Spirit.

What happens when you add us to this divine mix or dance? The love only increases (multiplies), not diminishes i.e. love flows among  the Father and Son, in, by, and through the Spirit then out to us and back and forth between a greater number of others (who are in His image and as close to being like God as possible without actually being Him i.e. we are like Him in giving and receiving love but unlike Him, in that He is the Source of love and we are not i.e. we are the recipients and conduits of love not the cause).

We have the ³capacity to enter into this dance of divine love because we, ⁴like Christ, are like God himself... in His image. As His image bearers we are valuable and infinitely valued because we can display God (who is of greatest worth) in a way nothing else can (except Christ Himself, who alone did and does honor His Father perfectly above all others). 

Our capacity to bring Him - who is infinitely valuable - to others makes us valuable. In Christ we become the ⁵focus of Gods infinite affection in addition to the love between the Father, Son, and Spirit.

Does bringing or adding more to this divine dance "thin out" God's love? No, it increases, expands or multiplies it just like the love of parents can expand, increase, and multiply with each additional child. But unlike earthly parents God is the infinite source of life, love, and all created things. 

And our love for each child is unique because of the uniqueness of that child and how they each can uniquely reflect back to the parents love and overflow that love and their image out to others in a way the others can't.

The more children there are, the more facets of God's glory and affections are displayed, experienced, and enjoyed.

 

What is the beatific vision? Click here to find out more.

For more on the self sufficiency (aseity) of God click here. 

For more on the Christ being the only begotten of the Father click here. 

For more on how God is relationship click here.  

For more on whether God is dependent or independent click here. 

For more on the life, love and Spirit of God click here.  
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¹this is the model we build a Godly marriage on. Marriage best works as God designed it to, when each is focused on the other vs on themselves... with God as the focus and source of love to and for both.

²Which is all of us until our disconnection from God - who is the source of life and love - is repaired and we are fully restored.

³I say capacity because to enter into this Union we first must be restored to God through Christ due to our rebellious and ongoing distrust of God and the alienation between us and God, created by that distrust. This alienation must be addressed, resolved, and removed so we can be fully restored and reconnected to the Source of life and love. 

Once it is and we are reconciled and restored, we become the full and perfectly qualified recipients of God's unobstructed perfect love as we were designed to be. As we come to embrace and rest in His perfect nonstop love, we are increasingly able to partake of that love in the same way the Father, Son, and Spirit do. This goes to the next level when we are glorified with God in ever increasing glory for all eternity.

There is legally no longer any obstruction between us and God in Christ. It is gone forever. So much so the very Spirit of God in all his holiness and infinite love now indwells us i.e. We are the temple of God and He now lives in us as perfectly clean vessels. Without Christ legally purifying us He could and would not. 

However, practically - on our side of the union - a weak connection still exists because of our lack of perfect trust in the Father. Because of Christ we have perfect access to all God is but we must "plug in." Distrust is like a bad connection in a wire causing it to regularly short circuit and hinder the power from flowing freely and consistently through it to its intended end. But this is a separate matter. For more on this click here.

⁴The Father "begot" the Son from all eternity past, not in time (like us) hence He is the "only begotten" Son. For a discussion of this click here.

⁵That infinite affection moves God to do whatever will best draw us closer to him, so we might experience more of Him and participate in more of His love. 

This often includes tests and trials, pain and suffering...but not always or forever. When we gain from the pain what we need to (i.e. a greater humility and dependence on God), we rise above that pain. Pain is still present (or maybe the circumstances causing it) but it's sting is removed because we receive it as it truly is...from the loving hand of God for our highest good and His greatest glory.  Similar to the pain we experience in a workout. It hurts at the time but we know the outcome is good.  To use a familiar expression, "no pain no gain." 

To say God is love is to say God is dynamic passion or affections for another resulting in outward focus and loving action to and for others. As the Father beholds the glory and beauty of Son and the Son beholds the glory and beauty of the Father, their delight, joy and passion for each other manifests as the Spirit. The Spirit of love, joy, and delight between the Father and the Son is God for God is love and He is Spirit.

In the original Hebrew Spirit means breath (movement of air or wind) among other things i.e. the passionate and affectionate breathing of God for another who is infinitely glorious and beautiful.

Spirit (Greek)
Πνεῦμα (Pneuma)
Noun - Nominative Neuter Singular
Strong's 4151: Wind, breath, spirit.

The value of the Father, Son and Spirit is so immense and they're delight in the other is so great in beholding the other it moves them to bring joy to each other. 

⁶We could say that love and delight is so real and intense it tangibly manifests as the Holy Spirit - i.e. the holy passion of God - as the 3rd person of the Trinity. We could argue this is in fact the over all manifestion of God who is both love and is Spirit. The very Spirit - passion/life - that binds the Triune God together.

 ⁷an analogy comparing God to a finite inanimate object - a generator - only gives a tiny sliver of truth, at best, in describing the infinitely overflowing God of perfect beauty, love, delight, and action. Clearly God is infinitely greater than anything created. Even more so of something mechanical. He is the cause and Creator of everything that is not God. He must be greater for without him nothing else would exist.

⁸our fullness, love, and fruitfulness as His children and bearers of His image is the overflow of beholding and participating in the beauty and glory of God in the same way He beholds and participates in the beauty and glory between and among the Father and Son in, by, and through the Spirit.

⁹This resulted (and results) in an overflow of love and glory to others like Him as well as all the rest of creation.

Does cryptocurrency have value?

Cryptocurrencies are a very hot topic these days, in great part because of many stories we may have heard about early Bitcoin owners becoming multimillionaires. Some are ¹kicking themselves for hearing about Bitcoin but not "getting in on it." Therefore they are looking for the next big crypto coin to "²cash in" on. 

But also due to out of control government spending and the instability of the finacial system i.e. our money.

Yet some are trying to tamp down the "hysteria" saying cryptocurrencies are smoke and mirrors and they have no intrinsic value i.e. it's just another "tulip mania" craze (a common example and analogy used).

So which is it? A great opportunity, a hedge against inflation, an alternative to a fake money system, a hyped-up scam, or maybe even a CIA/bankster honey pot?

The argument is often made that since Bitcoin (or other cryptocurrencies) hold no physical assets, they also have no intrinsic value. This assumes only tangible assets have value. 

However, many things have value that are not physical/tangible.

Intellectual property would be a classic example. Why do folks pay consultants? Because they offer information (knowledge) that can help them do business more effectively, efficiently, and easily thereby enabling their business to become more profitable with the same effort. Is this not valuable? Apparently, some think so since business consultants make a very good living. As the saying goes in business, time is money. Consultants can run upwards of hundreds and in some cases even thousands of dollars an hour e.g. Tony Robbins. Why? They bring value to you or your business, yet no "tangible asset" is involved. Or maybe we should consider the consultant, with their knowledge and expertise, the tangle asset.

A computer app such as Microsoft's Word is nothing more than digital information programmed in such a way that it enables you to write and edit whatever you need to electronically. No more need for Whiteout or endless crumpled papers in the waste basket. This saves time as well as cost of materials.

Microsoft also paid billions of dollars for Skype - a direct messaging platform. Why!? Neither of these are physical/tangible products but ideas applied in the digital arena that offer very significant functional value to the users. 

 

You might even argue a digital program (app) is a tangible asset in the sense that it exists and has valuble benefits when used as designed, like electricity itself. No one would argue electricity doesn't have an effect or value even though it's not tangible/material in the way we normally think. 

The bottom line is anything that allows us to function more efficiently, effectively, securely, and profitability is valuable whether it's a "tangible" i.e. a physical asset, or not. 

To say it simply we value anything that saves us time and money. The better it does, the more we value it. 

So here are some questions to consider regarding this digital technology called cryptocurrency. 

Is there value in offering folks a way to do business transactions privately and securely thereby preventing detection and theft? If there wasn't we wouldn't have safes or banks (physical/tangible assets) to store our money in, would we? They are called "safes" for a reason. Just because it is a "digital safe" doesn't make it less of a safe storage of value. 

This is also why we don't like to carry around large amounts of cash and also why there are security features for credit cards. Privacy and security are important - i.e. these features have real value - because they help us keep the hard-earned fruit of our efforts safe. Both of these are an inherent part of cryptocurrency. 

Is it valuable to have a system where everyone is able to see and verify the amount (though not necessarily the parties doing the transaction) so if anyone tries to make a fraudulent transaction (e.g. "write a bad check") it's detected and rejected by the system/technology itself i.e. no need to trust the sender or have a central "overlord" to verify things if the funds can be 100% verified (unlike an overextended credit card or bad check) by the technology itself before you send your goods or provide services? 

Who we are doing business with may be important but often only to determine if we can trust the funds are there and the payment will be good. If there is a foolproof way of knowing the funds are good, who we are doing business with doesn't really matter as far as the validity of the transaction is concerned.

Aren't we finding ourselves increasingly leery of trusting strangers? The fact is you can't do business without trust. In fact, to have any mutually beneficial relationship, both parties must be trusted or we simply won't transact with them. No trust, no business or relationship.

So what if you have a way to pay for goods and services where you didn't have to trust the one offering the funds because the nature of the transfer had features built-in assuring it was exactly the amount you were told and the funds were 100% good i.e. you knew you were getting exactly the amount you asked for or were offered when you were offered it? With cryptocurrency, the technology verifies the availability of the funds and the amount of the transaction. It is built into the coin itself (it is the nature and backbone of blockchain technology) and doesn't require the trust of the party sending it or a central party confirming its validity such as a bank. It simply needs to be sent.

Is it valuable to enable folks to be able to trust that a transaction is legit without having to take our time, energy, and financial resources to do so because we know with absolute certainty the funds are "good" no matter who they are coming from i.e. we know the "check will clear" so to speak, allowing us to utilize the funds quickly which results in being able to use our time elsewhere resulting in greater? Who hasn't lost money, credibility, trust, or customers due to a delayed transfer of funds?

Is it valuable to enable transactions to occur with minimum to no fees (most crypto transactions are strictly peer-to-peer, without using an exchange (exchanges are used to buy and sell, not necessarily transfer funds? Most transaction fees are very low allowing us to do our financial transactions at a much lower cost per transaction than with traditional institutions such as banks? You can do a transfer of literally millions of dollars from one crypto wallet to another often for less than $5 within only a few minutes, sometimes as quick as a couple of minutes. Ever had to wait for days, much less minutes, waiting for "funds to clear" with an ACH transfer or wire? Zelle is great, but you can only send under 2k at a time.  

If you can reduce your cost of a transaction by cutting out the middleman and go directly to the party you are doing business with i.e. peer to peer (because you no longer need the "middle man" due to the inherent built-in verification of the digital transaction) is that valuable? Banks, brokers, and exchanges are merely middlemen who get a piece of the action i.e. money moving from one party to another, and can take days to do so.  If you can move the money directly to the intended party, no middlemen are needed. 

Is it valuable to be able to do a transaction almost instantly with anyone in the world who accepts cryptocurrency? Especially for the one receiving the funds.

What about all the "unbanked" around the world, particularly those in 3rd world countries. Even they have cell phones. As long as you have a "smartphone" you can do all your financial transactions through your wallet installed on your phone. (Wallets are free to install). You can send or receive funds from anyone else, anywhere in the world who has cell service and a wallet on their phone. No bank is necessary because you in effect are the bank sending money to another bank i.e. another phone with a wallet app installed. 

People want privacy, security, protection, ease of use, and the most cost-effective and quickest way of doing transactions. These are all very valuable to all of us. What best provides these things will have the greatest value. True cryptocurrency (not CBDC) does all of these and more. 

If you probe a bit you will find those who scream the loudest about the lack of value of cryptocurrency are those who stand to lose the most, not unlike those who criticized the combustible engine (such as horse-pulled buggy makers) or the internet (the news business and phone companies). No one has newspapers delivered anymore. Magazines are also going by the wayside. Who uses landlines anymore? You can talk to anyone anywhere in the world for a reasonable monthly fee (or a free connection at a Starbucks or the like) through an internet connection. 

Who would be the ones who have the most to lose with cryptocurrencies? Banks, Brokers, Wall Street, and any middleman whose livelihood is tied to traditional financial services. But the biggest losers may be the Central Bank (the Federal Reserve system in the US) and the governments that depend on the collection of revenues through the traditional money system. I don't give tax advice. However, any system that could possibly allow people to bypass taxes poses a real threat to the system and the powers that be. Using government-controlled transactions via fiat currency feeds the beast of the central banking system. If you've ever tried to take food from a hungry dog with a huge appetite (and lots of puppies to feed) you'll get the idea. 

The fact that cryptocurrencies are still relatively new (only around 4% are involved with or use crypto in some way as of this article. However, with a 500% + increase in usage in 2022 (and 27% on average) it is clear that more and more people are finding cryptocurrency has real value, especially on the most remote areas without any banking available at all. 

How many would have liked to have invested in the printing press, the automobile, and the light bulb before their actual value was fully recognized? Can I see a show of hands?

What is fiat currency and what is its value?

While many express concern over what backs crypto's value few ask what assets back the US Dollar.

The US dollar is a fiat (money by law or decree) currency, which means it is not required to be backed by any physical commodity or asset, but rather by the faith and confidence of its users (we could legitimately call this a "con" - confidence - game). The value of the US dollar is not pegged to any specific asset or commodity (though it was tied to silver at one time up until 1971).

  

Now it is actually an IOU i.e. a "bill" which is a debt instrument and "we the people" and our labor are the pledged collateral. You could say by using their "legal tender" we are slaves on a federal plantation. 

The US dollar is widely held and accepted as a means of exchange, store of value, and unit of account among governments, institutions, and individuals around the world, and yet, it is backed by less than nothing... it is a "Federal Reserve Note" - written across the top of every piece of paper "money" - which is not federal and has no reserves but is a "note"

i.e. a debt instrument.  

Once you understand how our current paper money system works and why crypto has actual intrinsic (if not tangible) value, I predict you will be jumping on the crypto train yourself if you aren't already on board.

For a discussion on what exactly is currency click here.

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¹I was actually given 1/10 of a bitcoin when it was around a dollar per coin just to open up a virtual wallet. I had forgotten about it until years later when Bitcoin jumped past $60000 a coin. During that time my computer crashed and I lost the password to my wallet. So somewhere in cyberspace is a wallet (with the missing key to open it) worth 1/10 of a bitcoin at whatever the price currently is.

²This mindset of cashing in on a coin is why so many people lose their shirts. That is not a strategy it is more like gambling. But that's a separate topic for another article.

 

³another argument against crypto is it won't work without electricity, which is true but the actual data - "physical bits of information" - remains intact (just like the letters and words on a page) whether you have the power to view or transfer it or not. Once you have electricity you are back in action. Plus no one seriously thinks electricity will go away long term. Even if we had a major EMT event, solar (and other alternatives) could have us back up and running in time. If we ever had a total electricity blackout we'd have far greater issues than not being able to use cryptocurrency. 

We run on electricity - brain signals for example. The point is, electricity is all around us and we will always find a way to harness it without the system being the gatekeeper.

 

Possibly the most significant and maybe least understood feature of all cryptocurrencies is they are limited i.e. there is a fixed number of coins issued and no more. If not, it is not true crypto but only a digital alternative look alike, such as the government-proposed CBDC i.e. central bank digital currency (personally I wouldn't touch their digital currency if my life depended on it. And if you don't look into how to acquire and use true crypto, it may). 

One of the key principles of economics is supply and demand. If there are a set number of coins, as they become more scarce and their value becomes more and more recognized, they are used more and more and the price will go up because demand will go up, so you never have to be concerned over a coin being devalued through the creation of new coins. This is the opposite of our smoke and mirrors paper money (and the proposed CBDC) that can be fractionalized into oblivion. This drives the value down eventually to nothing as more "dollars" are printed. This will also be the case with a centralized and controlled "fed coin" or fed digital currency that is now being floated about. The simple solution is don't use their crap. To say it simply, true cryptocurrencies eliminate inflation (and often do the opposite i.e. go up in value). So-called inflation is actually the devaluation of paper money by increasing the supply - i.e. printing more - so it takes more of it to acquire the same goods and services over time. 

Violating design

All things are created and designed to operate a certain way i.e. according to their design. This is in fact why the scientific method works; most things are predictable, measurable, and reliable (though also broken and dying). If there was no design there would be zero consistency or predictability with anything. Everything would be chaos i.e. without order. 

Yes, there are still mysteries but not everything is a mystery. Certain things operate like clockwork e.g. the earth rotating every day, the sun being the same distance from the earth. The seasons change every year, etc. 

If there is design it stands to reason there is a Designer. No one thinks a relatively complex device such as an old-school pocket watch came into existence on its own. How much less an intricately and vastly more complex living being such as a human? 

Yet contrary to logic, we seem obsessed with a desire to remove God from the discussion - and life in general. So much so that many of the ideas promoted and believed by so-called experts are actually very illogical. 

This indicates that a purely materialistic view of the world is rooted in rebellious unbelief, not reason. In many instances, we often are better off relying on common sense and simply observing the ebb and flow of things instead of the so-called "experts."

When we acknowledge there is a Designer, then it's only reasonable to conclude there is a purpose for that design (i.e. things are created for a reason esthetically and practically). And if there is a purpose, then there is meaning to the existence of that which is designed. God designed things to operate a certain way, just as a watch has a reason for its design and existence.

To operate contrary to that way/design results in less than an optimal operation and outcome, even eventual breakdown with harm or destruction to others, ourselves, (missing an important event because you don't have the correct time - to continue the watch analogy) not to mention dishonoring the Designer i.e. to operate contrary to the wishes and intent of the Designer.

Christ stepped into this broken world of rebellious humanity, which violates His design. He took the ¹harm, destruction, and pain caused by this violation upon himself, allowing it to kill him (violation of design always has harmful consequences to someone, whether it us and others). He did this so we might ultimately be delivered from the consequences of this violation, with the harm, destruction, and breakdown that always occurs when things don't operate according to their design. 

To benefit from what Christ did, we must believe Christ actually did this for us. If we do not, we are rejecting His offer and are left to bear the full consequences of our choice on our own and alone. It is only logical e.g. If a time bomb is planted in your home and you don't have the skill or knowledge to disarm or remove it but an expert comes and offers to do it for you and you refuse (you suspect he's a con man to scope out your stuff), your house blows up. 

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¹spiritually, emotionally, and physically.

So why is Christ coming and dying so significant?

Christ's suffering not only occurred at the cross but in the incarnation itself. When Christ took on human form he set aside what He'd enjoyed from all eternity past - his divinity and the unobstructed communion of love with the Father in, by, and through the Spirit. This in itself alone was a great sacrifice - and He stepped into this world of pain (that we broke), suffering, and death as a man with all the needs and limitations of being human - not something the eternal Son of God experienced before His incarnation.

He emptied himself of what was rightfully his to give to us what was not rightfully ours. He did this so we might have what He had - perfect union and engagement with the very Creator of life, love, and all things! Why? Because he loves us that much.

1 The very definition of the root word "organ" implies design: a grouping of tissues into a distinct structure, such as a heart or kidney in animals or a leaf or stamen in plants, that performs a specialized task.

The broad and narrow gates

Is the following an accurate picture of what Christ was saying about the broad and narrow way?

Like all scriptural passages, we must read them in light of what goes on before and behind any given verse - i.e. in their context - to get a full understanding of their meaning. And not only the immediate context but the context of the entire book or letter as well as the Bible as a whole. Though the Bible has many human contributors it has one author - God himself - with a unified message.

Many things may appear at odds within the Bible but when you dig deep, you find they are pointed to the same God "...with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." Jas 1:17 ESV

Before I took a course in hermeneutics (i.e. principles of biblical interpretation) many passages in scripture were unclear or confusing. The broad and narrow gate passage is an example of a passage that always puzzled me. It seemed to be a random teaching with no connection whatsoever with the surrounding verses. How did it fit in with the rest of this passage or the sermon on the mount as a whole?

Is there a common thread that runs throughout Matt chapter 7 (or the entire sermon on the mount in Matt 5-7 - or all scripture for that matter)?  If so, what is it?

This well heard of sermon is about others and how we relate to and treat them, whether the "other" is God himself, our neighbors or anyone else, even our enemies. The entire sermon has to do with applying the greatest commandment and the 2nd which is like it for "... this is (sums up) the Law and the Prophets..." (vs 7:12) i.e. the main overall teaching of the OT - as well as the NT.

The golden rule mentioned in Matt 7:12 isn't randomly sandwiched between other teachings of Christ with no apparent relationship to the surrounding verses i.e. completely out of place and standing on its own. It is actually the unifying thread throughout the whole sermon as well as the rest of Bible.

We have heard the narrow and broad gate has to do with our eternal destination, who and how many go where eternally. But the context is about the golden rule not directly about our eternal destination.

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few." - Matthew 7:12‭-‬14 ESV

In light of this context how should we interpret the "golden rule" in vs 12 in relationship to the verses immediately surrounding it? Or maybe we should ask, how do we understand the broad and narrow gate in light of vs 12 i.e. the golden rule. I offer the following interpretation for consideration.

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this (the command to love your neighbor as you love yourself) is the Law and the Prophets. “Enter by the narrow gate (of treating others as you want them to treat you). For the gate - of loving yourself more than others - is wide (most go through it) and the way - of loving yourself more than others - is easy (its much easier to be selfish than selfless. But selfishness...) that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life (i.e. life and flourishing now, not necessarily eternal life) and those who find it are few (i.e. very few people connect with God and His infinite love well enough that they are empowered to live sacrificially i.e. live for God and others first instead of just for themselves). Sacrificial living is hard ("faith is hard work"). Very few live this way. Matthew 7:12‭-‬14 ESV

The narrow way Christ is referring to is living by the golden rule and the broad gate simply means that most don't i.e. don't  live sacrificially. In fact very few do. It is truly the narrow way to live.

To not live according to the golden rule does in fact lead to great harm and destruction here on earth… our own harm as well as that of others. It is in fact the reason for ¹all human conflict on this planet. 

This ultimately leads to our eternal destruction but in this context living by the golden rule is primarily about the here and now, not eternity i.e. how we treat others today.

The sermon on the mount deals with the direction of our hearts. Christ knows well - and assumes - that we cannot live by this sermon without being empowered by God and his love. We can't and won't love God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength unless we know we are loved this same way by God 1st. To live the narrow way requires we love God with everything we are and have. But none do until they grasp how God infinitely loves them 1st. Few grasp this love because few believe and trust in it. It truly is the narrow gate.

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¹due to rebellious distrust of God we have cut ourselves off from the very source of life and love i.e. God Himself.

Religion. Coming up short

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." - John 14:6

Many other religions and non-followers of Jesus acknowledge Christ in some way. They may even greatly respect and admire Him and much - though not all - of what he taught and did.

However, the claim he made above as the only way to God (and other similar claims), if fully understood, may require them to reevaluate their view of Christ and reconsider who He claimed to be and is.

If we take a close look at Christ and all he taught, we will discover we must either fully embrace all he did and said or we must reject all he did and said i.e. if only one thing he did or said was suspicious or outright wrong, should (can) we trust the rest of what he did and said? I think we could say this about anyone.  Especially when they make strong claims like Christ did. 

On the flip side, if Christ taught great things, did great deeds and set a great example, maybe we should pay more attention to the things He said that we disagree with, such as the verse above. Maybe everything he did and said is right, not just the things we prefer or like. 

A person worth trusting, admiring, and following fully is someone we can trust fully i.e. trust all they said and did, not just some of it.

Why does Christ say he is the way (not a way) to the Father (God), the truth (not a truth) about the Father, and is life Himself? Christ wasn't saying this only about what he did but who he was and is.

How do we understand this in light of all the different paths/religions out there?

Christ didn't make these claims because there is no value in all the various religions or traditions, but because these paths (⁴particularly adulterated versions of Christianity) never get us to the destination we seek. The problem isn't simply a philosophical or theological one but a very practical "rubber meets the road" one.

That doesn't mean the various religions don't also move us along in a good and helpful way. Much can be gleaned from them (contrary to the views of many within the "Christian" tradition). The problem is they never fully get us to where we ultimately hope, desire, and need to be. They come up short. Every one of them.

Why? Because they are based on attempts to reach the Creator through our efforts instead of being connected to God by and through Christ's efforts - whose efforts alone are good enough to please, restore, and unite us to the Father; the Creator, and Source of life and all things.

What is the ultimate destination that all paths seek? Some religions call it Nirvana (or moksha). Jesus called it eternal life (vs ongoing pain and eventual death and separation from our Creator, the source of life, love, and all things). It goes by different names in different religions. 

Whatever it is called, there is a universal sense expressed within all religions that something is incomplete, missing - "off" - that we all seek to find - i.e. we need to obtain something or arrive at a certain place - to be complete.

What do we seek? Wholeness, release (relief) from our state of pain, meaninglessness, insignificance - deliverance, restoration, reconciliation, rest, peace, completeness, paradise; in a word, home - a place where we feel completely safe, welcomed, and loved even when we are at our worst.

Jesus alone extends to us the offer of complete and perfect love, joy, and fullness that is found only in God. He alone offers us the way to enter a state of perfect belonging, of bliss in union with God and who He is in spite of our greatest weaknesses or worst moments - vs our best efforts, for they are never enough.

Christ described it the following way...

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies.

God is love, joy, beauty, fullness, bliss, etc. To be fully united with Him is to have and partake of all these. God is the "home" we long for and seek that is missing. He is - as the loving community of Father and Son in, by, and through the Spirit - the paradise we were created for, had, and lost. He is that place where we can be who we truly are (good, bad, ugly, and everywhere in between) and never be rejected but fully embraced and accepted even with all our short comings i.e. loved.

However we can not fully enter and participate in this until we are perfectly and fully aligned and connected to the Source of complete love, joy, and fullness; the very same blissful fullness that the Father and Son experience in, through, and by the Spirit.

How can we be aligned with the most perfectly loving being when we ourselves are not perfectly loving? 

This isn't simply a moral question or problem but a practical one. It is similar to asking how water and oil mix. They don't. For something to blend perfectly they must be the same. I think everyone would agree that we're not perfectly loving but very much about taking care of ourselves before we care about others.

This is not the way God is. God is other-oriented; an overflowing fountain of love within the loving community of Father and Son in, by, and through the Spirit. God always has been this way (long before we came along) and will be this way, with or without us.

And the Spirit of God - i.e. God himself - is not some mysterious undefinable apparition but the very Spirit/passion/breath of God who is endless overflowing love and life flowing back and forth between the Father and Son in, by, and through His Spirit of passion and love. 

This alignment and harmony with God is not something we can obtain by our efforts but is offered to us as a ¹gift. This is why Christ said the following...

John 4:7 
A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”

John 4:9-10
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

John 4:13-15
Everyone who drinks of this water (from the physical well) will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I  will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

The following are additional analogies Christ used to convey who he is and what he offers...

John 6:35

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

John 7:37-38

Rivers of Living Water

37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

This overflow of love and life is the very essence of God as Spirit. God is love, life, and Spirit and He calls us to enter into and partake of this Union of perfect glory, love, joy, and celebration between the Father and Son in, by, and through the Spirit. A glory he has always had (and is) in perfect completeness and fullness from all eternity past. 

Christ offers and invites us to partake of Him by His Spirit in the same way He partakes of the Father... to become a part of this triune God of joy, bliss, and glory. But to do so - to fully partake of and experience this - we must be perfectly singular in our affections and focus on Him in the same way as the Father and Son i.e. in, by, and through the Spirit. Otherwise, we will never experience fullness of life we were created for and can only find in Him.

All this can only be done in and through Christ for he alone is and was perfectly focused, lived perfectly - walked (and completed) the perfect path to God and fully partook of God.

".. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son ²except the Father, and no one knows the Father ²except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him..." - Mat 11:27

And out of love for us, He offers to assign and credit to ³us His perfect life (the only life perfectly lived, approved, and accepted by the Father), so we might enter into the divine dance of love and life that is God as if we lived that perfect life ourselves. 

This is the only way we can experience what all religions seek (including and maybe ⁴especially adulterated performance-based "Christianity") but can never obtain or give us since they are based on our efforts, not on God's in and through Christ. 

Christ wasn't arrogantly boasting about Himself when he said He is the way, he was simply pointing out the reality of who and what truth life is and how it is found. 

And this is true only of Christ and no one else. He alone perfectly loved the Father with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength and others as himself, even to the point of dying i.e. giving up His life for the Father's honor but also for ours. We haven't, and never will, nor has any religious leader loved in this way. This is why he alone is the way to the Father, the truth about the Father and life himself from the Father and was sent to us by the Father, who offered himself in sacrifice so we too could be fully reconciled to and united with the Father.

For a further discussion and what it means to be righteous click here

For a further discussion and what it means to be righteous click here

For a further discussion on why Christ is our only way to be in right standing with God click here

For a further discussion on our alienation from God and the solution, click here. 

For a further discussion on the difference between religion and Christ, click here. 

For a discussion on the meaning of the "broad and narrow way" click here. 

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¹Why a gift. Because we can not do or be enough on our own to enter this Union of bliss. What is needed to enter must be obtained for us and offered to us as a gift. It is now up to us to receive this gift.

²This is not saying we know nothing about the Father and Son but that we do not know them fully as they truly are or in the same way they know each other.

The good news is we don't have to in order to be united with God and fully accepted and embraced by him because Christ already did and does this and extends to us the benefits of this as a gift.

³because we cannot and never will live it. And this is our dilemma. We refuse to believe we are too broken to live it. We think we can somehow save ourselves - obtain salvation on our own, given enough time and effort, even if it takes us several attempts (e. g. reincarnation). If we are to ever obtain what other religions promise but cannot deliver, we must receive Christ and abandon our notion of self-deliverance. We must trust Him, not ourselves, and recognize we never can perfectly align ourselves with our Creator by our efforts. That he alone did for us what we can't and now offers perfection and wholeness to us as a gift - if we will receive it.

⁴I say it this way because of all the proposed alternate paths to God, adulterated versions of Christianity are the most destructive because they most appear to be what Jesus taught in how we are to unite and be aligned with God when in fact they are the exact opposite and only another religion that is a performance-based (vs Spirit, grace, love based) approach to God.

"And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed...

Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world." John 17:5‭, ‬24

https://bible.com/bible/59/jhn.17.5-24.ESV

The Logos and Passion of God

Who are the Son and the Spirit of God?

The Son

In the beginning was the Word (Logos), and the Word (Logos) was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.

...And the Word became flesh (a flesh and blood human) and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. - John 1:1‭-‬2‭, ‬14

How do we make sense of Christ being with God and also being God at the same time?

Logos in the mind of the Greeks meant the purpose or reason (logic) behind something. The declaration of someone. The explanation of what something is and does.

John borrowed this Greek word because it captured well who Christ was in relationship to the Father.

Christ is the full declaration and explanation of God i.e. the Word or Logos of and from God. Not merely words about God but the manifestation of the very mind and truth of who God is. To see and grasp this - the Logos - is to see and grasp God Himself. This is why Christ said, if you have seen me (truly grasp and fully understand me) you have seen the Father i.e. very God Himself.

The Spirit

The Spirit, on the other hand, is the expression of the passion (love, breath, or heavy breathing, if you will) of God for that which is most lovely, beautiful, and glorious i.e. God Himself as the Son. The fact that we are told God ¹is both Spirit and Love is a clue of how these attributes of God are inseparable and vitality connected. We could say they are different aspects of the very same being i.e. God Himself.

In summary

Christ is the very mind and truth of God.

The Spirit is the very heart, passion, and love of God for that which is most beautiful and glorious i.e. Himself.

Both are the perfect manifestation and expression of these different aspects of God, the light (knowledge) and heat (love/passion) of God if you will. So much so, that they are very God as the Son and the Spirit.

For a more in-depth discussion of the Son and Spirit click here

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¹it is important to note the bible doesn't merely say God has love or has Spirit, it says He is these; both of them at the same time.

Contentment

What is contentment? When does it occur?

Contentment is arriving at that place where we see God's blessings are no longer about advancing us but others - God first - His kingdom and glory - and then our neighbor. A desire to advance God's kingdom and glory over ours is evidence of our contentment. 

Knowing - believing God "has our back" better than we ever could, is the soil out of which contentment springs forth.

When we come to that place where we are content no matter what God gives or doesn't give or do for us, is usually when He gives us the most. 

God loves to bless us and is eager to do so (Rom 8:31-32) but he withholds blessings when he ¹knows they will draw us away from him i.e. when we will choose to pursue them instead of Him and are drawn away from Him by them.

Contentment is ²evidence that we are ready to receive God's blessings without being drawn away from Him by them. 

In a sense, our contentment frees God to pour out His abundance on us. Because of our contentment He knows his blessings will freely flow through us to others.

For a discussion on why the "prosperity gospel" does not honor God click here.

For a discussion on how we reap great results click here.

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¹God alone knows the true condition of our heart and when we are ready for abundance over and above what we already have or receive, we don't. We only think we know.

“The heart is deceitful above all things and it is extremely sick; Who can understand it fully and know its secret motives?" Jer 17:9 (AMP)

We can never presume if or when we are ready for additional blessings but only seek to be content no matter what. Blessings or lack of them can never be our focus but contentment in knowing God is for us and His love is fully set upon us is no matter what our circumstances.

²The greatest evidence of contentment is when God pours out his blessings upon us, we use them to bless others and honor God i.e. we give freely was we have freely received. We don't cling to blessings, but only to the one trust God who blesses.

 

Knowing and experiencing God as our source is like eating a healthy gourmet meal. Once we have, we have no desire for cold leftover fast food. It simply no longer has any appeal. Our desires are already satisfied. 

What does God value in us?

Why is humility so important? 

What best brings it about? 

Is there any connection between our value, as bearers of God's image, and humility?

We will start by looking at humility and then how this is connected to being like God - Jesus i.e. in His image.

There are at least three foundational truths to grasp for humility to increase in us...

1. We must know - in our heart not just our head - that all that we are and have comes from God - especially our being in His image with the capacity to enter into the union of Father, Son, and Spirit.

2. We must know God values us regardless of our failures (or struggles). In fact He actually uses struggles to advance us and strengthen our relationship with Him.

3. We must know God values us regardless of what anyone else thinks or says about us - i.e. we don't need to ¹promote ourselves and derive our sense of value through the praise of others. 

We are already fully and eternally valued and cherished by God. If God is for us who can ultimately be against us? Hint...nothing and no one...including ourselves! 

What is the basis of God's value of us?

God made us like Himself. It is His image in us that He values. Or it may be more accurate to say he values us because we are in his image.

But why does God value his image in us? What is it about His image He finds so attractive and appealing even though we are so broken, often ugly, full of doubts and distrust of Him? (...or maybe in part indirectly because of these - i.e. because of the humility our failures and struggles help develop in us). 

Christ also being in the image of God may be an important first clue to our value and humility. Let's take a closer look.

God knows and sees fully what we are becoming and will be that day we are finally and fully glorified and perfectly united with Him in ²eternity (because we are in his image we will be more ³like God on that day than we can even imagine or now see).

God no longer holds our failures against us - Christ already fully addressed them ⁴legally. So in Christ, there is now no barrier between God and us on his side of the relationship (though we wander back and forth in our trust of Him). He fully and perfectly receives and embraces us in His love. He will never love us anymore (now or in eternity) than He already does because of Christ. To use a description by Paul, at this very moment, we are seated in heavenly places in Christ. 

 

He also knows where our struggles and failures are ultimately taking us. Since, in Christ, our rebellious distrust of God is no longer a legal issue, He now focuses on how to maximize the use of our failures and struggles ⁴practically i.e. how they are used to humble us - if we let them - and how they advance our increased participation in Him in all His infinite glory both now but particularly in eternity. Our eternal reward is God Himself. The more we humble ourselves the more we see and experience Him in the fullness of His glory and the greater our joy.

God is thrilled and delighted in us - because He is thrilled and delighted in Himself and His Son first and how we are becoming more like His Son through our struggles - and will finally be like Him when we are fully in union with Him and fully glorified alongside Him the moment we step into eternity. Because, at that time, our union with Him will be complete and perfect in the same way His Son's is - and was from eternity past and is again since his resurrection - the Son who is already and fully in the perfect image of the Father.

We will be like the prodigal son that his father lost, ⁵who returned. For now, God eagerly watches our progress as we grow in greater trust. He awaits our perfect restoration and union with him (as the prodigal son's father did). At that time God will throw His arms around us, kiss our neck and throw a feast for us, ⁹celebrating our complete union and exaltation with Him forevermore. 

Like Christ, His only eternally begotten Son, we too are his sons and daughters (even though Christ is the only begotten Son, we, like Christ, are the sons and daughters of the all-glorious Creator God). 

Because of what Christ did for us, He earned the status of being the first born of many "brothers" i.e. of additional sons and daughters. 

He was also the first (first fruits) to go through death and come out the other side fully glorified and victorious. This suggests there are others like Him to follow i.e. others who put their complete trust in Christ and what He did to restore us to the Father. As God's sons and daughters in Christ we are next for we too have died in Christ and will also be resurrected in glory. 

Imagine the delight the Father had in His Son from all eternity past and the excitement he felt upon His return to Heaven and being restored to His full glory and by His side again. The Father has this same ⁶eager anticipation and excitement for being with us and our being united with Him. He values us as His sons and daughters in the same way He values Jesus, His eternal, only begotten Son.

And what a day of joy and celebration that will be for God and us! The greatness of our capacity to be like God (Christ) and enjoy and reflect him throughout eternity will only be 2nd to Christ Himself! 

And the greater our ⁷humbling in this life - whether self imposed (through self denial and sacrificial love of others) or through painful circumstances - the more fully we will participate in, experience, engage in and enjoy the Father and Son in, by, and through the Spirit both now, but more importantly throughout eternity. At that time we will fully join in the celebration and divine dance of glory and love between the Father and Son in, through, and by the Spirit. The greater our humility and trust now the more we enter into and partake of the only true God now but especially in eternity.

So never shy away from discipline, obedience to the Father, struggle, disappointment, set backs, suffering but embrace them - in the same way Christ did. The more we do the more we become like Christ and the more fully we will partake of glory (God's and our own) the same way Christ does.

God Himself is our reward and struggle is often the primary means by which we draw nearer to Him. The ⁸more you partake of challenges of any kind - either self imposed or externally imposed - and let them humble you, the more fully you will be able to engage and participate in God in all His wonder, majesty, beauty and glory both now but especially throughout eternity.

So count it all joy when you go through various struggles. Fix your eyes on Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy set before Him endured the greatest pain. Get ready for His celebration of you and your joining Him in the greatest party you will ever have or experience. A celebration that never ends! This is the essence and glory of heaven.

For a discussion on what makes Christ unique as the only begotten son click here. 

For a discussion on the humility of God click here

For a discussion on why evil exists click here.

For a discussion on if we are accountable for Adams rebellion click here.

For a discussion on who we are but who we are not yet but will be click here.

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¹Self promotion - exaltation - is at the heart of pride and pride is the opposite of humility. We seek to promote ourselves to fill the void caused by God's absence, brought about by our rejecting and distrusting God in all His care, love, value, support, advancement and promotion of us. To lay down attempts to advance ourselves and receive the love, care and support of another requires humility and trust (and not just any "other" but the all wise, loving and powerful Creator God). It is acknowledging our dependence on another versus being our own god i.e. vs being independent. It is the reversal of the spirit of distrust and rebellion displayed by Adam in the garden.

²We have the short view. God has the long view which happens to also be the most important and true view.  

"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient (temporary, fleeting), but the things that are unseen are eternal (permanent, unshakable)" 2 Cor 4:16‭-‬18

³The potential of our being like God and fully experiencing Him lies dormant in us as bearers of His image. This capacity was not lost in our rebellion but lethally suppressed. When we rebelled and broke trust with God, we died spiritually - our spiritual light went out (though the capacity for that light to be turned back on remains). When we turned away from God, our full brilliance - glory - went dormant. What was left was a spiritual void - hunger - that we now seek to fill. But due to our rebellious distrust of the only One who can fill it, we seek glory outside of and apart from God through creation, instead of in and through Him who is the Creator.

Now we treat God as our enemy and the one that blocks (prevents) us from obtaining fullness of life - or so we think - through created things instead of the Creator of them. 

 

But is this true? Do we really think he's our enemy? How do we know? How can we tell?

If we get angry, when our plans to gain life outside of God are thwarted, we are ultimately shaking our fist at God. We believe He's the cause of our pain when it is His absence - due to our distrust of Him - that is the actual cause.

Physical death is evidence and the outward manifestation of our internal spiritual death that occurred at the rebellion of our original parents, Adam and Eve. In order for our true spiritual brilliance to be completely manifested in and through us again, we have to be fully united with - plugged into - the source of life and love - the all glorious, brilliant, majestic, and beautiful God who is our Creator and the Source of us and all things. God alone is our true life source - the source of all glory and brilliance...and of our glory and our brilliance - we are not. 

Being reunited with God - the source of life, love and all things - only occurs in and through placing our trust in Christs efforts on our behalf, not our own.

⁴Our rebellious unbelief (sin) is addressed in 2 ways

Legally - objectively. Our rebellion is no longer held against us because of Christ and His bearing the full legal consequences of that rebellion i.e. God's condemnation and judgment for our rebellion are gone, removed forever and never revisited again by God. Christ bore all of it when He died and came back to life, putting these away from us forever.

Practically - subjectively. As we become more aware of the depth of our rebellious distrust we are humbled and increasingly understand the significance of Christ fully removing the legal consequences of our rebellion and our desperate need for Him.

⁵Due to his son humbling himself because of his failure to make it on his own.

⁶And not the Father only but the Son also eagerly anticipated His return as well.

⁷Challenges will either make us distrusting and bitter or better. It is our choice. We must choose to believe He is working for our good or not i.e. we are tested on whether we believe he is for us and not against us.

⁸Do not question God's love and the good intentions He has toward you when allowing you to enter into and go through struggles or fiery trails. He is working in you things you do not yet fully see or understand, to humble you and enable you to be more like his Son so that you can better feast with Him in eternity as the Son does.

So "count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing..." - Jas 1:2‭-‬5

 

⁹If this is the response of a finite and flawed human father, imagine the response of a perfect, infinitely wise, loving, all powerful heavenly Father. I would say we can't and won't be able to fully grasp this until that day we are looking face to face into His eyes.


A personal note regarding this post...

I used to dread dying and have always hoped I would die quietly in my sleep some day but after understanding the truths above I am inclined to accept the most challenging death, and going through such a death might humble me further so I might be exalted even more when I finally step into eternity with God. 

The closeness of our union with God and extent of our partaking of God in eternity is in proportion to our humility in this present life. 

Don't shy away from the things that humble you, embrace them. Doing so increases your capacity to experience more of God's embrace of you. Not His actual embrace (i.e. His perfectly receiving us now in Christ) - but you more fully receiving and experiencing His embrace of you now emotionally. This is already perfectly ours in Christ because of His efforts (not yours) on your behalf.