The necessity of faith

Faith is mentioned and illustrated throughout the bible but we are given this one specific quote on 4 different occasions... "the just shall live by 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. 

Faith is a central theme throughout the Bible, but what exactly are we to have faith in? And why is it so vital and necessary?

We are called to live by faith for many reasons but a primary one is ongoing pain, suffering, and death (evil). Why? These can cause us to question the goodness of God i.e. if God is so good why does evil exist and still continue? 

To say it simply and directly, the continued presence of evil in the world requires us to live by faith in God's goodness because often the "evidence"- i.e. suffering  - appears to say just the opposite. But does it?

Is there no proof of God's goodness or no solution to evil? 

Not only is there proof, but when understood, it is the greatest evidence of all. 

Christ, who was totally free of evil, stepped out of the eternal bliss of perfect union and joy with His Father and into this world of pain and death over 2000 years ago. He did so ³to embrace the full consequences of evil (death), and totally overcame it (resurrection). This is both the response and absolute solution to evil and clear evidence of God's goodness. 

God didn't do this because he had to but because he wanted to, i.e. He so loved the world he gave his only Son. Sacrificial love is the ultimate expression and demonstration of love and when fully understood, eliminates any doubts about God's goodness.

For those who trust Him, Christ's first coming set us totally free from the ¹legal consequences of evil. Because of Christ, evil can never again separate us from God's love. 

His coming also laid the groundwork and set the stage for God ²to completely free us (and earth) of the very presence of evil when He returns. 

Christ is God's resounding proof of His goodness and the ultimate answer to evil. 

For those who refuse to trust Him (and His solution) or refuse to believe He is good, there is no other solution or remedy. Sadly, evil only continues for those who reject His offer of love and restoration. But this doesn't have to be. 

To know and understand God and His infinite goodness and love, we must know and understand Christ. If you desire to know God, in all His goodness and love, study and know Christ - who He is, what He did, and why He did it. Christ himself said if you have seen me, you have seen the Father (God). Many posts on this blog address this, i.e. who Christ is, what He did, and why He did it. 

Additional articles about Christ:

The only begotten Son.

The incarnation of God

The Logos of God

The fellowship of Christ's suffering

Job: an example and lesson in trust and humility

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¹this can be a direct quote as in this example or a reoccurring theme. Direct quotes are particularly important indicating God doesn't want us to miss what He seeks to convey. Reoccurring themes are throughout scripture and are more subtle. They require some digging but are equally important.

²Knowing God - but not fully yet

³The resurrection clearly and resoundingly asserts that death does not have the final word, life does.

Does God want anything?

As the Creator and Sustainer of everything that is, naturally God must value Himself. That is a given. But how does God feel about the things He created, like you and I?

God values us as well. But why?

Does God get something from us that he needs? No. God needs nothing. 

‭‭"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 ‭

Everything that is, comes from Him. 

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!"

So why then does He value us? 

It is because we are in his image - i.e. like Him. But how or why does this matter? 

By virtue of our being like Him we can 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, that 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 ¹their sake.

Wanting something is not necessarily selfish. We can desire and find joy in someone else's gain solely for the benefit it brings to them. 

The reason we are this way is that this is the way God is - we are like him. 

We can also relate to this because we know what it feels like to want the best for our children. We want this solely for their sake, not ours, simply because they are our kids; they come from us, not completely unlike the way we come from God, i.e. we are his offspring; bearers of His image. 

Some other links that touch on different aspects of God valuing us:

Does God value us

What does God value in us

Our worth is based on what?

Why in God's name does he love us?

God's love based on who or what?

Created for glory

Lovable vs lovely

Hardwired for greatness

The most valuable values us 

Our worth God's glory

Giving and receiving glory

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Footnote:

¹Though we gain joy from others benefitting by our care and love, the joy is in knowing they benefitted i.e. we don't do it for our joy, but theirs. It just so happens we also get joy in this because we are like God, who receives joy in bringing joy to others. 

The law/obedience... required or not

Is obedience to God and His law a requirement?

In one sense, it is not and in another sense it is.

*Obedience is not required:

For justification, i.e. We are not, cannot, nor ever will be justified (in right standing with God) by our obedience to God's ³law. 

To approach God's law in this way is saying we can make ourselves "right" with God through our efforts, i.e. we can be good enough to make (or cause) God to accept and love us. 

If so, Christ wouldn't have needed to die and we could be our own savior and the cause of our salvation. 

However, to be right with God requires a love, faithfulness, loyalty, and worship of God, that is equal to His beauty, majesty, and glory. God, being all glorious, rightfully demands and deserves a matching response. 

We are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, because of who He is and how He loves. Anything less would be inappropriate and inadequate for an infinitely majestic, all-glorious being.

However, this ³can not occur for several reasons.

• 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.

*Obedience is a "¹requirement":

If we are to partake of the fullness of God, His life, and bring Him maximum honor and experience our greatest flourishing. 

This has nothing to do with our justification before God as our judge and everything to do with our communing with God and being in a harmonious and fulfilling relationship with Him as our loving Father. Having a "right standing" with God is only possible through Christ's efforts, not ours. Christ alone was perfectly faithful to God, not us - even unto death. However, being close to God and in a warm relationship with Him is up to us.

• 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.

In summary, obedience is a requirement as far as our maximum flourishing, experiencing God, and honoring Him, but not as far as our justification. 

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 how we are inclined to earn God's love click here.

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.

 

For a discussion on what righteousness is click here

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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. 

God is Life. All we are and have is from God. Partaking of, experiencing, and fully engaging Him is up to us.

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. 

³Not because we shouldn't obey the law or because the law is not good, but because we cannot without His love empowering us.

What is the good news?

The essence of the gospel is God's love, acceptance, and embrace of us are secured solely by Christ's efforts, not ours. 

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. 

If we truly believe this good news (gospel) - i.e. that God is now totally for us, and no longer against us (even in our current imperfect state) - the more we see it, the more it will galvanize us in the face of adversity and empower us to become unstoppable for God. If we are not unstoppable for God we have not yet fully grasped the good news of his relentless and boundless love immovably fixed upon us. The more we grasp this good news the more unstoppable we become.

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.

The 2 key elements needed for this to occur...

1. The good news (gospel) itself - God's part, i.e. he has already fully taken care of this.

 and

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, good behavior (or bad for that matter). 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" or our part in our relationship with God. 

It is work in the sense it requires us to humble ourselves and take up our cross daily. This is not easy and 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). 

As our trust in God and His perfect and infinite love (extended to us freely by grace) increases, our living for God's honor increases, i.e. the good news increasingly manifests itself through our words and actions as our trust in Him grows.

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 greater the impact this good news has on us and the more it changes us. 

But God must also reveal himself to us in all his beauty and glory.  The more of his beauty we see the greater our desire for him grows. The greater our desire, the greater our pursuit. 

As God reveals to us both our desperate need and His glorious beauty, our faith ¹grows. Our faith in God is only as good as our view of God (and ourselves) is clear and accurate.

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  we think we must to be accepted by God - 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. 

"Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." - Phil 2:12-13.

Change that comes about from external pressure is not true change, but merely external conformity, which results in self-righteousness, not humility. This is the essence of legalism which unfortunately is common within the Christian community. 

For a discussion on: 

How we are inclined to try and earn God's love click here.

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.

 

What is righteousness click here

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¹to the extent our trust in ourselves diminishes and our trust in him increases, we change.

Seeing God's love in our pain

"that I may know him (Christ) and the fellowship of his suffering's…" - Phil 3:10

What is the "fellowship" of Christ's sufferings, that Paul desires to take part in - and we, by his example, are also invited to partake in? Whatever it is, we must participate in (experience) the "fellowship of his sufferings" to have a deeper understanding of Christ, i.e. Who he is, what he did, and why did it. This is directly connected to knowing him better as indicated by the leading comment in the above"...that I may know him..."

What about our suffering? How does our suffering help us to see and know Christ better?

Stated simply, if we are to know and appreciate Christ more fully and the depth of His love, we must see and enter into Christ's suffering through our own, i.e. we share in (fellowship with) His pain through ours. The more we suffer the greater opportunity we have to understand and appreciate Christ's suffering.

But how are our pain and experiencing Christ's love connected?

Our pain helps us to more fully understand, appreciate, and sympathize with Christ's pain. The greater our pain, the greater our potential understanding of Christ's, i.e. we can relate to Christ's pain better because of our own. 

Whenever we are in pain, we should reflect on Christ's ³struggles and all the spiritual, emotional, and physical pain he went through for us. The more pain we experience the more deeply we can "enter into" and partake of His if we choose to and let it.

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 in turn 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 the immense depth of His love for you more fully by his embracing the pain you and I deserved - that He did not deserve.

To expand this further, the more we see His pain, (ultimately caused by us choosing to be "gods" when we are not) the more fully and deeply we see the ¹greatness of His love that moved Him to embrace our pain (and the consequences of the pain we cause others) so He might free us from condemnation rightfully due us for the harm/pain we cause others. 

Grasping the depth of Christ's pain rarely happens without us first going through our own pain. The greater ²our pain, the more fully - and the greater the opportunity for us to - appreciate ²His i.e. we are better able to understand and "fellowship" with Him in His sufferings through our own suffering, and thereby also more fully enter His love. 

Pain is a two-way street for both Christ and us

We are also reminded that because of his pain, he understands and appreciates ours better as well. He can better fellowship with us in our pain because of His own i.e. We are united with Christ in and through our mutual suffering. 

Amazingly, Christ chose to identify with us in this way! We will have this in common with Him throughout eternity and will be reminded of this - of His immense love for us - every time we look upon Him and behold the scars He carries and embraced for us.

"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Heb 4:15-16

Pain can help produce two overriding positive outcomes if we let it. 

1. It can humble us by revealing the depths of our need and inability to cope with the pain alone, i.e. without God.

2. It can cause us to more fully appreciate the sufferings of Christ and the greatness of his love that moved him to suffer on our behalf.

These are two vital reasons we should never shrink back from pain and suffering, but instead be thankful for it. In doing so, this enables us to more fully see and take part in his great love.

If you want to know your level of trust in Christ and the strength of your love for Him, ask how much pain are you willing to go through for His sake? 

This is a question Christ asked of himself while suffering for us and he answered with a resounding "whatever it takes." His willingly going to the cross for you and me was the result of His saying yes to pain. 

How much pain am I willing to go through for His sake is a question we may wish to ask ourselves. One I ask myself often.     

Christ asked that question and answered by giving up his life, and allowing this to disrupt His eternal union with his Father. 

"“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.."

"By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers."

For a further discussion of how God uses evil for our good click here...and here. 

The greater the evil the greater the opportunity for healing/ grace click here.

For a discussion on the key lesson from the book of Job click here.

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¹When people question the goodness and love of God because of all the pain in the world (including their own) they miss the bigger picture and cannot see that Christ took on the pain of the world and let it kill him so he might ultimately free the world and us from it. Pain is not the final word regarding evil. Christ is!

 

The big question isn't why is there suffering and why God allows good people to suffer, but why He allowed Christ - the best and only perfect person - to suffer. 

And maybe a more important question... what is the Father saying to us and about us by allowing it? Hint...He loves us that much.

Until we answer these questions, we can never fully understand, accept, and willingly (gratefully) embrace our own pain and the world's pain. 

We are so jaded towards God that we forget that God so loved the world he gave. The greatness of love is measured by the greatness of the gift. 

And what did God give? His very own Son (think of Abraham being asked and being willing to sacrifice his son Isaac). The Son of his infinite and eternal affections. Christ's death was not barbaric, it was an expression of extreme love and a willingness to take on our suffering so we might be forever free from it...if we accept His offer.

If we do not, there is no other solution!

The whole notion that the infinite and all-powerful Creator and Sustainer of everything would take on human form and even consider going through undeserved pain for our benefit is mind-boggling if we stop and reflect deeply on this. 

After reading this, I encourage you to do just that. Think deeply about these things often. Let them seep deeply into your very being and transform you and your love for God. 

The Father and Son fully understand pain because they fully embraced and experienced it themselves. The Father embraced the pain of giving up the Son of His eternal affections and the Son embraced His greatest pain by allowing it to separate him from the eternal affection of His Father for a time. This "severing" of their relationship was a far greater pain than any physical suffering.

The only reason that people continue in pain after this life is because they refuse to see God's remedy, which is Christ and all He suffered (willingly) at the hands of ungrateful and wicked men for our sake.

²Particularly for condemnation, persecution, and rejection.

³Has someone closest to you ever betrayed you? Have you ever had anyone twist your words, misrepresent you, and speak ill of you or not come through on their commitments or promises to you? Have you ever been unappreciated for a sacrificial service to others? Have you ever had anybody forsake you in your greatest hour of need? Christ experienced these and far more with one big difference. He never complained and did nothing to deserve it. And He did all this for us and the honor of His Father. 

Evil helps us to more appreciate good

Though evil directly is bad, indirectly it is good. To say it more precisely, evil is a means by which God brings about our good because it ¹can be the means by which we discover more of God, who is our ultimate good. 

But it does so indirectly, by being contrasted with good, i.e. our appreciation for good is enhanced by experiencing evil - the absence of good. Experiencing bad enables us to better appreciate its opposite. 

To illustrate, we often cannot fully ³appreciate a gift until we experience its absence. Someone who has their sight restored after going blind appreciates it more than the one who never lost it - or had it. Losing their sight was bad, but it became the means by which they experienced the greater good and a greater appreciation for it.

The appreciation of the goodness of God in eternity will no longer require the ¹presence of evil because we will experience the goodness of God unabated. At that time, that which evil is intended to help us see more fully will be fully seen and experienced - i.e. God in all his infinite goodness. We will no longer need help to see it (Him) because we will be in God's immediate presence and seeing it - He who is perfect love and goodness - fully. 

Pain is ²only experienced and needed now because we are still broken and in a broken world, in need of restoration. We therefore presently see through a glass darkly. But when we are in eternity, we will see Him face to face. At that time evil will no longer be present.

But we will have a reminder of the destructiveness of evil throughout eternity in the scars of Christ's hands, feet, and side.

For a further discussion of how God uses evil for our good click here...and here.

The greater the evil the greater the opportunity for healing/

grace click here.

For a discussion on the key lesson from the book of Job, click here.

For a discussion on the value of paradox, click here.

For a discussion of how big is God click here

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¹However, pain will continue to exist for those who experience total separation from God and His creation. Though it will not be the personal experience of those who trust God's provision to restore us - i.e. Christ - it may be a continual reminder throughout eternity - to those who trust Him - of what we avoided.

Allowing the possibility of evil to occur meant there was a chance that some would not benefit from it. This was obviously a *"chance" God was willing to take because it also allowed those who turned from it to appreciate good all the more, i.e. What was gained by allowing evil was greater than what was lost. 

*Technically there are no chances with God. He knows everything that will happen before it does and all contingencies and outcomes. There are no surprises for God.

²Actually there is another reason. It is experienced simply as the natural consequence of pulling away from the source of life and love i.e. Our creator God.

³ Paramahansa Yogananda  (born Mukunda Lal Ghosh; January 5, 1893 – March 7, 1952) was an Indian Hindu monk.  I used his quote not because I subscribe to Hinduism, but because it shows the wisdom of observing life as it is even if one's worldview is not rooted in scripture. I believe all truth is God's truth and from Him, whether it is in scripture or from the wisdom gained by observing and experiencing life. To say it another way, all scripture is true but truth is not only found in scripture. 

I am not certain we can say evil was created as the quote says. I'm inclined to believe Scripture teaches that evil was allowed not created - unless you wish to say that evil was "created" by the absence of good, i.e. that the absence of good brought to our awareness and experience the existence of evil, in a similar way that the absence of light makes us aware of the existence of darkness. In that sense, I would agree. But I'm willing to consider any "pushback" by those who disagree. Feel free to leave a comment at the end of this post. 

For a discussion on what happened at the rebellion of mankind in the Garden of Eden click here.

I would add this blog is titled "Thoughts about God" vs Thoughts from God. I do believe the thoughts I share on this blog are rooted in Scripture (which rightly understood are His thoughts i.e. His words) and in various degrees also stirred by His Spirit (at least that is my hope, desire, and intention) but I am merely a finite human trying to grasp and communicate the Infinite and in my attempt, no doubt I will fall very short.

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. 

If we are to ever partake of and experience God in all His fullness, we are - and must willingly be - totally dependent recipients of and participants in God's glory, not pursuers of our own. It is only in pursuing His glory that we truly experience ours.

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?!!

Yet we are still not God. We can only partake of God because we are like Him. Though before him, we are (and must be) humbled.

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." 

The more we see His glory the more we experience our own. 2 Cor 3:18

Two vital truths in pursuing God

Knowing the following truths is essential for our spiritual advancement.

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 

*why we are here 

*what our purpose is and

*respecting (fearing) God's commitment to conform us to His purpose and design - for our greatest good and His highest glory 

*the consequences if we refuse to conform. 

The second

Is the good news of God's perfect acceptance and embrace of us and His perfect commitment of unrelenting love toward us 

- because of Christ's efforts and performance to perfectly honor God 

- regardless of our failure to conform to His designs and our lack of honoring Him i.e. God's acceptance of us is not based on our efforts but Christ's.

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 us as bearers of His image. 

We must constantly and deliberately seek to keep both of these in view and in balance.

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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²this is because God designed us to be in alignment with him, with who He is and what He desires (wills). If and when we are not, we are not all we are meant (designed) to be i.e. we do not bring God his rightfully due honor or function to the maximum of our potential but break down or short circuit.

³good but not necessarily easy.

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. 

For a more in-depth discussion on why kids rebel click here. 

Or if you have no kids but are still under the care of parents your attitude towards them reflects this as well. If you no longer listen to them while under their direct care, it is because you no longer respect them and trust their love for you. What can you do if you're in this situation? Recognize God is bigger than your parents and trust He is still working for your good in all things if you love Him, even through imperfect parents.