Everything the Bible says is important, but when it ¹says something verbatim several times, it is especially significant and we should pay special attention.
Thursday, December 28, 2023
The necessity of faith
Everything the Bible says is important, but when it ¹says something verbatim several times, it is especially significant and we should pay special attention.
Sunday, October 22, 2023
Does God want anything?
"The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything" - the apostle Paul - Acts 17:24-25
God doesn't need anything because he has everything He needs within the community of perfect love between the Father and Son in, by, and through the Spirit. Everything else that is, flows out of God and all His fullness, i.e. who He is - a fullness so great that God simply spoke everything else that is into existence. He is the only being who can say, "I AM!"
But we can certainly give Him something he wants (desires) and enjoys. It is through Christ first (the Son of man and God) and now us, that he reveals Himself to others, so he might also bring others into the divine dance of love and joy within and among the community of Father and Son and Spirit. In short, He wants others (you and I) to experience Him, for our sake, and to share this with those like Him, i.e. other image-bearers, so they may also partake of Him, i.e. for *their sake.
Wanting something is not necessarily selfish. We can desire and find joy in someone solely for the benefit it brings to them.
Wednesday, August 2, 2023
The law/obedience... required or not
- Who among us loves God with all we are and have? Yet everything we are and have is from Him is it not? This alone demands our perfect loyalty, devotion, and respect, if not our affection, not to mention this being the greatest commandment.
To not love and honor God will all we have and are minimizes the beauty, majesty, holiness, glory, and infinite worth of God that justly compels and requires our perfect love and absolute faithfulness, loyalty, and worship of him for who He is - the infinitely beautiful, majestic, and all-glorious God. Nothing less than absolute, total loyalty and faithfulness is suitable or sufficient for the Creator, Giver, and Sustainer, of all things. He deserves all our devotion and rightfully desires no less.
- Only God is perfectly loyal in faithfulness, we are not. This is a problem since faithfulness and unfaithfulness in a relationship can not mix. This would be like a married couple with one partner being infinitely lovely and perfectly loving, loyal, and faithful while the other partner is off pursuing other "lovers." No normal and healthy relationship works this way.
- It nullifies the work Christ did to fully restore our broken relationship with God. Attempting to be in right standing with God by our efforts is an insult to Christ and His efforts. We are saying Christ's faithfulness to God - which was even unto death - was unnecessary; that I can be good enough and love God well enough to make myself right and acceptable to God without Christ having to do this for me. In effect, this is saying to God and others that Christ died in vain. His death was worthless and useless.
- We simply do not and cannot love/value God perfectly as He deserves, i.e. with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and our neighbor as ourselves without God empowering us. We are designed to respond to love and be the recipients and conduits of love. We are not the initiators of it. God alone is the source and cause of love. We love Him because He first loved us.
- And He will not empower us until the fallout (i.e. the harm and consequences) from our rejection of His beauty, majesty, and glory is addressed and accounted for and the veil of blindness that obstructs us from seeing him as He truly is, is removed. This occurs only when we are restored to a right relationship with God i.e. we are justified.
- Experiencing God in all his greatness and the full potential He created us for requires our maximum participation in who He is as our all-wise and loving Father and faithfully pursuing all he calls us to do. The essence of this is loving him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength as he rightfully deserves and loving our neighbors as ourselves (who, like us, are also in God's image).
- Our obedience does not cause God to love us but aligns us with Him and "plugs us in" to who He is - His heart-will - as the most lovely of all. Obedience is evidence of our love for him. It should match his love for us. It also ushers us into his presence more fully. When we draw near to him, ²he draws near to us.
- God is loving, good, kind, and wise. In Christ, we are his children. When we are aligned with Him, His love flows to us and empowers us so we also become loving, good, kind, and wise. This also reveals and reflects him to others through us i.e. It honors him. It brings him glory and also brings us the greatest joy.
The Westminster Catechism asks...
What is the chief end of man?
The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. God's glory and our joy go hand in hand i.e. our greatest joy is in glorifying God.
"For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen." Rom 11:36
For a discussion on the difference between "Cultural Christians" and grace-driven followers of Christ, click here.
For a discussion on how God empowers us, click here and here.
For a discussion on the essence of God's Kingdom, click here.
For a discussion on how God's love is conditional and unconditional, click here.
For a discussion on whether our focus should be on morality or Jesus, click here.
Footnotes:
¹I put "requirement" in quotes to distinguish it from justification. It is a requirement in the sense that drinking water or eating nutritious food is a requirement if we wish to stay alive and experience optimal health.
Loving God with all we have and are and our neighbor as ourselves is to operate according to our design (and His will). Things work best when they function as they are designed to. This is especially true of us as creatures who alone are in God's image.
Even as God's child - through Christ - if we stop eating and drinking, we will still die. Nevertheless, we are no less loved by God because we violated God's design to physically sustain us through eating and drinking.
²Not in his disposition and posture of love toward us (Christ already fully took care of this and secured it for us) but in our disposition towards Him.
God's willingness, desire, and commitment to manifest himself to us and our being able to experience Him in all his love are perfectly secured for us by Christ.
But our full participation in all Christ has secured depends on us i.e. on our trust in God and faithful pursuit of Him as spelled out in the greatest command to love Him with all we are and have and our neighbors as ourselves.
Friday, July 14, 2023
What is the good news?
Because Christ was and is perfect in every way - and credits or assigns his perfect "track record" or status and relationship with the Father to us - God's love and embrace of us is perfect in every way. He loves us in the same way He loves the Son of His eternal affection; as if we were faithful to him exactly the same way Christ was, when we are (and were) not. This indeed is good news because we are not required to achieve this status through our efforts and can not mess it up by the lack of effort either! Hard to believe, but true.
This gospel isn't simply about entering the Kingdom of God but living and walking in it, i.e. being empowered by God's love to live for Him today and every day!! This is fully and freely extended to us because of Christ's efforts alone.
1. The good news (gospel) itself - God's part, i.e. he has already fully taken care of this.
2. The extent to which we believe (fully grasp) this good news - which is our part, ongoing and always increasing if we are truly His child.
The first element - the good news - is accomplished only by God in and through Christ and is complete. Nothing can be added to it or taken away from it. It is what God did (and does) through Christ and has nothing to do with our efforts. It is 100% legally ours but ours practically (i.e. experientially) on a day-to-day basis, to the extent we receive and believe it.
The second element - our faith (trust) in this good news - is our "work." This is ongoing until we go to be with Him eternally. It is the key to the maturing process, i.e. our spiritual formation (sometimes referred to as sanctification).
The effect this good news has on our day-to-day actions and conduct is small if our grasp (belief) of it is small and great if it is great.
So how do we increase our faith or remedy our unbelief?
God must first reveal to us the desperateness of our condition without Christ, i.e. how short we come in recognizing the goodness and love of God. Until we see our need for this good news (that there is no hope of being received by God without Christ) we will not desire or seek it. The more we see our desperation, the more impact this good news has on us.
And what is the condition or state we must enter into for God to reveal Himself to us most?
Humility, i.e. recognizing our desperate need of God.
*Humility is key to seeing God.
*Seeing God is key to great faith.
*Great faith is key to great pursuit of God.
God's strength manifests itself in us most the more we acknowledge our weakness. The essence of the gospel practically is strength in and through weakness.
This is bad news before it is good news.
How do we not change?
If we change ("obey") because we believe we think we have to - i.e. because of external pressure or reasons - it never lasts. True and lasting change only occurs because we want to change, i.e. it comes from self-imposed internal "pressure" i.e. motivation. A genuine desire to change.
The difference between "Cultural Christians" and grace-driven followers of Christ, click here.
The essence of God's Kingdom click here.
How God's love is conditional and unconditional click here.
Should our focus be on morality or Jesus? click here.
Wednesday, July 5, 2023
Seeing God's love in our pain
The more we see and enter into His pain through our own, the more we can also see the depth of his love that moved Christ to suffer on our behalf.
Seeing the depths of his love causes us to love him more.
If you wish to love him more, be grateful for your pain, if only because of how it reveals to you Christ and His love for you more fully.
Saturday, June 17, 2023
Evil helps us to more appreciate good
The greater the
Tuesday, June 13, 2023
Our God is to small
Many think total dependence on God is a sign of weakness when actually it's more an acknowledgment of God's greatness.
In ourselves, we may be great and of great importance but compared to God - who is all-seeing, all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving, and everywhere present - we are like a single drop of water in a vast infinite ocean. This does not mean we are invaluable, or insignificant but in contrast to him we are.Seeing God truly and clearly both humbles and dignifies us; it shrinks and expands us at the same time.
How?
By helping us see that God is our eternal foundation and the infinite, overflowing fountain of love, glory, and joy; not us.
How does pursuing God expand and dignify us?
Since we are like God - created in His image by His design - we can enter a union and communion with the most high God in the same way (not necessarily to the same extent) as His eternally begotten Son. So in this way, we are like the Son and the Father's love is fully ours, in the same way it is the Son's! What could be a higher and more significant (dignified) status?!!
We may be small compared to God, but, as His image bearers, the more we see God's "bigness" the bigger we become. The smaller God is - in our eyes - the smaller we become. Our increased awareness and participation in God's "bigness" increases us - makes us "bigger."
Tuesday, May 9, 2023
Two vital truths in pursuing God
1. Our utter inability and failure to consistently live according to God's perfect design and will.
2. God's perfect love, acceptance, and embrace of us because of Christ, regardless of our failures to do the above.
To see the importance of pursuing God, we must understand the following:
1. The ²negative impact on us and others of not pursuing God.while also fully understanding
2. God's perfect and total acceptance and embrace of us (if we are in Christ), regardless of our failures, circumstances, or indifference.
The first does not cancel out the second.
The first is about understanding our design as creatures in our Creator's image and the significance of not living according to His design. It is understanding
The second
Is the good news of God's perfect acceptance and embrace of us and His perfect commitment of unrelenting love toward us
These 2 realities of God's perfect standard and perfect acceptance are always in tension (and appear to be at odds). Yet knowing both are absolutely and equally vital to truly knowing and fully experiencing God and all ³the good He desires for as bearers of His image.
If we are struggling with guilt and shame over our failures and shortcomings, we must contemplate God's infinite love and perfect acceptance of us in Christ and that He uses even our failures to bring about His ultimate purpose and perfect design for us.
If we are indifferent to faithfully pursuing God, we must contemplate God's relentless commitment to conforming us to His image (design) for our highest good and His greatest glory. We must remind ourselves of the positive results of our conformity and the negative consequences if we don't conform i.e. we reap what we sow, both good and bad.
Both are vital in our pursuit of God and equally true as if the other were not true.
For a further discussion on the consequences of not conforming to God's design click here
For a further discussion on being perfectly freed from our internal and external struggles click here.
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Friday, April 21, 2023
Praising God is for our benefit not His.
God, who is worthy of all praise, is still fully God whether we praise him or not. He is not ¹diminished by our lack of praise nor in need of it.
He does not need us or our praise to be complete or fill up something missing. He is the same God with or without us or our praise.
So why is our praise important? It is for our benefit and the benefit of others, not His. Though He fully enjoys our praise, he doesn't ¹need it.
God is not on an ego trip when he calls us to praise, worship, and glorify him. Instead he is calling us to partake of him and his love to the fullest extent possible. He is seeking to love us and bring us into a ²fuller experience of His love.
God knows we are most fulfilled and whole when we are ²honoring him most. This is why He always calls us to do so. He knows this is essential to our well-being and maximum flourishing.
For a fuller discussion on why God delights in us but doesn't need us click here.
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¹God is not diminished in who is but He can be diminished in the eyes of others because of our attitude or actions. Others can be drawn to God more when they see our trust, praise and love for Him. When they are drawn to Him because of our actions and thankful disposition, He is delighted for their sake and ours.
For a further discussion on how God delights in our delight click here.
God is diminished in the eyes of others by our lack of praise and thanks to Him.
He is not diminished in the essence of his being. God is fully God with or without our praise. And this is because he's the God of all glory, honor, beauty, and praise within the dynamic, overflowing community of love among Father, Son, and Spirit from all eternity past.
²God calling us to honor him isn't out of His need for us but our need for Him. We listen best to those we honor most. Our honoring Him is the necessary posture we must have in order to hear Him clearly.
If God is the all-wise, loving, and powerful being He claims to be it is in our best interest we honor and heed His instructions to us and directions for us.
We listen least to those we respect least. Respecting those who care for us is vital. An illustration of this is our kids. If your kids stop listening to you while under your direct care and provision, it is because they no longer respect you and trust your love for them.
Friday, April 14, 2023
The greatest lesson from Job?
Could it be that Job encountered and wrestled with all his pain so his story could be told ¹primarily for the benefit of others? Is God, through Job's example, seeking to reveal to the rest of us (as well as to Job) how deeply our distrust of God runs when things are hard; how distrust is our most basic problem and trust is our greatest need and not deliverance from pain and suffering? This is where the book of Job eventually takes us through Job's example i.e. that God is God. He knows all things and what is best, we do not. That He is worthy of our total trust and ultimately calls the shots, not us.
Paul cites Job
We get a hint of this when Paul cites Job at the end of Romans 11 in verses 34-36.
The seeming failure of God to deliver Israel from their physical and political slavery was a major stumbling block to Israel's embracing Christ as a nation (even after His resurrection his disciples still wondered when Christ would set up his earthly kingdom to ⁶free Israel from Rome).
What are the key takeaways from Job that Paul summarizes at the end of Rom 11?
“For
* who (Job 15:8) has known the mind of the Lord, or
* who (Job 36:22-23) has been his counselor?” “Or
* who (Job 35:7; 41:11) has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”
For from him and through him and to him are all things (even the hard things). To him be glory forever. Amen. - Rom 11:34-36
* "Behold, God is exalted in his power; who is a teacher like him? Who has prescribed for him his way, or who can say, ‘You have done wrong’?" - Job 36:22-23
* "If you are righteous, what do you give to him? Or what does he receive from your hand? " - Job 35:7
"Who has first given to me (God), that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine." - Job 41:11 ESV i.e. you can't give to me what I already have and rightfully own.
The answer to each rhetorical "who" Paul asks is no one except God i.e. God is God and knows what is best i.e. only He is all-wise. He also doesn't owe Job - or you and I - anything, including an explanation of why He does what he does the way he does it (hence God never directly answers Job's most pressing questions).
For us to acknowledge the full extent of our distrust requires humility... not only for Job but for us as well. Job is simply a primary example and illustration of this fundamental problem we ⁴all have - a deep-seated, ongoing, and arrogant distrust of the only true, infinite, and all-wise God.
Not only is it true that Job and all he suffered isn't just about Job. The lessons he learned aren't only for his benefit, but for all of ours. In Job, we observe our own struggles and doubts in suffering and the overall issue we all wrestle with...distrust.
What else can we learn from Job's example?
Christ is the ultimate ⁴example of trust in the face of overwhelming pain and suffering. In so doing He invites us to trust His Father as He did, demonstrating the Father's trustworthiness.
Two potential effects Christ's suffering has on us.
*Humility - as we too come to trust God as exemplified by Job and ultimately by Christ.
Or
*Anger, fear, anxiety - because Christ's example of complete trust rebukes us and exposes our distrust when we face our own suffering. When slapped in the face, Christ turned the other cheek and even prayed for his enemies. Christ trusted the Father when and where we do not.
In addition to all this Christ offers to legally assign His trust of the Father to us and gives us credit for it as if it was our own. If we accept His offer we are fully received and embraced by God and can now be treated by the Father as if we are perfectly trusting when we are still deeply distrusting.
For a discussion on why God allows evil and suffering to continue, click here.
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¹At least our immediate pain. Christ took on the pain of our rebellious distrust so that we ultimately will be delivered from it for all eternity.
² Isn't the primary purpose of Job to illustrate the importance of faith when faced with the most difficult questions of life and possibly this very specific and difficult question of national Israel's falling away from their messiah? This would certainly explain why God never directly answers Jobs' questions. From the conclusion of the book, we get a clear indication God had other reasons for including it as part of His divinely inspired writ.
³No more than Israel liked hearing that Christ came to deliver them spiritually and not circumstantially i.e. physically or politically.
⁴and because of His trust in the face of the greatest suffering of any man, we are invited to come to him without hesitation when faced with our own suffering.