The law saves?

The Law does not save us in the legal sense (for we could not and cannot perfectly keep it, and never will).

But it absolutely *saves us in the practical sense by giving us clear direction on how to operate to the maximum of our capacity and design, and fully participate in the purpose we were created for. Without clear direction, we are a rudderless ship, driven by our fickle emotions and tossed in the storms of life, ready to be cast onto the rocks.

The law is a problem for us legally (which only Christ can and did satisfy), but not practically.

Practically, it guides us and delivers us from mediocrity, guiding us toward maximum flourishing. It provides us with clear direction in our pursuit of excellence for the glory of God.

Legally, it's impossible to fulfill in our own strength.

Our problem is not the law but complete trust in the lawgiver; a trust created by God himself by fulfilling the legal obligation of obedience to the law i.e. when we understand how Christ fulfilled the law so we might be fully restored to the Father, we trust him.

It is Christ's provision of perfect obedience that already perfectly satisfied our legal obligation to the law and delivers us from suffering the just consequences for violating it.

And 

The law gives us clear guidance on how to best live according to his will and our design (practically) for us.

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 

in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, 

who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Rom 8:1-4

Because Christ fulfilled the legal demands of obedience to the law, we no longer have to and can no longer be condemned for not doing so. Christ bore our condemnation for us, for our lack of faithful obedience, past, present, and future. If we are "in Christ," we are dead to sin's claim on us.

Now we are free to pursue God solely out of love - i.e. by or according to the Spirit - not out of the threat of rejection, condemnation, and judgment i.e. not according to the flesh. 

Perfect obedience is no longer an obligation to meet, satisfy, or fulfill to avoid rejection. Faithfulness to God - obedience - is now a passion within us driven by love i.e. by the Spirit

Living according to the law in order to be accepted and approved by God is no longer applicable. In Christ, we are already fully and perfectly accepted. We now seek to live "according to the law" to honor God, partake of him to the maximum of our design and potential as His image bearer.

Psalm 119. 

For more discussion on the meaning of "according to the Spirit" and related terms or phrases, click here. 

For a further discussion on excellence, click here. 

For more discussion on what drives obedience, click here

For more discussion on "working out your salvation," click here

_______________________________

*not directly but as a means or vehicle by which God guides and directs us. 

Means and ends

The end we seek often determines the legitimacy of the means we use. e.g. Seeking great wealth (a means) so that we might have great impact on others for God (our end) is legitimate.

To not utilize the gifts resources and opportunities God grants us simply to avoid fame or glory is not the appropriate response regarding those gifts. Instead we should seek to use them for the glory of God. 

The fact that we often use the gifts and resources we are given, for the wrong ends does not negate the value of those gifts or the necessity of having and using them to advance good ends. The question isn't whether we can or can't, should or shouldn't use them but why do we wish to use them; to what end do we seek to obtain something?

If our desire and goal is to honor God we are to act with all the power and resources he gives us. The question is no longer should we exert ourselves but rather why are we exerting ourselves. Once we have the why question right, we are to work with everything we have (Col 1:29). The issue is not productivity but motive. Whenever we move forward on a project we must always ask why. 

Some would say we should not seek great things in life i.e. a great name, great fame or great wealth or success etc. Because we don't often know the true intent of our heart, this is usually true. However the more important question is why do we seek these things, not if we should. Are they an end in themselves or a means to the greater end of God's glory. For example, if I am well know as a professional athlete -- a gift granted by God through the exercise of the gifts and abilities he gave me -- I have an opportunity and platform to give glory to God in a way someone else doesn't.

The movie "Chariots of Fire" is a great illustration of this. The main character Eric Liddell sought to honor God through his physical talent of running. So much so that he refused to run on Sunday in one of his main events out of honor to God. One of his most memorable lines in the movie was "I believe that God made me for a purpose. But He also made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure." Seeking a platform to honor God is an honorable pursuit no matter how "unsacred" the effort may appear. To say it another way, any effort intent on honoring God is a sacred one.

What is certain is we should never stop seeking to have a great impact i.e. seek for others -- the more the better -- to experience God in a powerful life-transforming way (quality) OR seek this for as many people (quantity) as possible -- and to diligently pray and work toward that end -- while at the same time always recognizing the outcome is ultimately up to him, not us. We sow and water but he gives the increase.

We don't control the results, only our faithfulness. We are simply to be faithful -- the greater our faithfulness, the more fruit we see. Again, not for our honor but his. 

Seeking great things to bring great honor to God is not only a good thing but in fact what we are called to do. This is bearing "much fruit" in contrast to bearing little fruit. This is being a faithful servant instead of an unfaithful one. But our objective is being faithful to God to "show Him off" i.e. to honor Him. The kind and amount of fruit is up to him. 

And if we are given great gifts/resources and the opportunity to be a faithful servant, then we should seek to accomplish great things for God i.e. to whom much is given much is required. 

Our challenge isn't if and when we can or can not seek great things, it is in so doing, are we seeking them for the right reason i.e. for the glory of God to the benefit of others. 

Our true challenge is not whether we should or should not seek to accomplish great things -- bear much fruit  -- it is knowing the true intent of our heart.

Instructions

If you "wander off" to another link, such as this one you are now reading, simply hit the "back" bottom on your browser to go back to the original article you were reading. 

If this is unclear click here to take you back to the article that pointed you to this instruction page. 

Welcome! How to navigate this blog.

Before I address the logistics of navigating this site, it may be helpful to know why I offer it. 

Simply stated, this site comprises my thoughts about God as I have pondered Him in my travels through this crazy, messed up, broken, and beautiful world - i.e what does it look like to walk with God and how do we best travel this pilgrimage for his highest glory and our greatest joy. 

Some may be surprised to hear or know that God's glory and our joy are not at odds but go hand in hand. As you dig into this site, you will see I attempt to help others discover how and why.

These are conclusions I have come to based on what I have seen consistently in scripture first, and the human condition as well - my own and others - and how to apply these conclusions -  accurately, I hope - to real-life challenges. 

In short, I share things that have helped free me to better love and honor God and my "neighbor" in the hope they will help you as well. I have a long way to go, but this blog voices my own struggles in seeking to be all he has created me to be. 

Sometimes I don't cite a large amount of scripture to support all my posts (while some of my posts are a deep dive into a specific passage). That is because the underlying theme of the post is woven within and throughout scripture. I'm simply elaborating on and fleshing out the meaning of terms that the church at large has gotten so used to that we are numb to their full significance. Common words such as glory, love, grace, worship, beauty, heart, or Spirit would be good examples. 

Not to mention culture often redefines the meaning of some terms not in the same way originally intended by scripture.

If, while reading, God brings to mind specific passages that support the theme of a post, by all means, share them and, if helpful, we can incorporate them into the article. I often do this myself when I come back and reread a post and God brings scripture to mind.

Another thing I attempt to do is show how key themes run throughout scripture, making the Bible a diverse but unified whole. I have concluded that all key themes are in seed form in the book of Genesis - the book of beginnings if you will - and run through the whole of divine scripture, culminating in the Revelation of Jesus Christ i.e. The last book of the Bible. Hopefully, this blog will help make those connections more clear.

Godspeed and happy navigating. 

NOTE: If you are on a mobile phone you will want to view this on a PC or in the "web version" for it to properly display. 

·        Navigate this blog:

This blog is organized primarily through the navigation bar near the top (also pictured immediately below).

Just mouse over the categories listed in the above horizontal bar and you will see a drop-down menu like the example on the immediate right. Then click on a particular topic of interest (e.g. love, faith, obedience, etc.).  

When you do, a page will appear with all the posts that deal directly or indirectly with that topic (you also may have to read the entire post to get the connection). 

To see all the posts on a given topic, scroll down to the last blog post on the page and click on "next posts" as you see in the example immediately below. Repeat this until there are no more pages. 

You may have as many as 5 full pages of articles before you come to the very last post on that subject. Just tap the back button on your browser to return to the first page. 

If you do not wish to read all posts on a given topic, just scroll through the titles to pick and choose the ones that sound most like what you are looking for. 




At the end of many of the articles are embedded links to other posts - right before the footnotes, which display in blue font as you see here (whenever you "mouse over" a link your cursor pointer will display. Run your cursor over see here and try it. 

Most of what I post are singular points of discussion that are also tied to a unified whole. Some articles may even seem to contradict each other, not unlike what we sometimes find in scripture. So each post, though somewhat a stand-alone article, is also often best understood in relation to other topics, therefore I suggest the addtional articles at the end of most articles. As of this edit (05/2025), we have published over 430 posts on a wide variety of topics, most regarding our spiritual development or formation, some on apologetics or philosophy, and some on theology, eschatology (i.e. "end times"), economics or politically related topics. We add 1 to 4 new posts a month on average. 

·        Search this blog:

You can also search this blog with the search feature near the top left of this page under the navigation bar above, also pictured on right ----------->  

Just type in a word or phrase such as "love" "grace" or "the image of God" "Trinity" etc and a list of articles with that word or phrase will display. Again, there may be as many as a dozen or more articles that will come up. As I mentioned, keep scrolling down and/or click on "next post" on the bottom right to see them all. 

Also, if you wish to see the posts in chronological order, they are listed under "Blog Archive" along the left side of this page. 

The most popular posts over the last week are on the right. 

·        Subscribe to this blog:

If you find the articles I post helpful you can subscribe - it's free for now. I may offer it by subscription once I move over to substack soon. All you need to provide is an active email address. 

Just click here, add your email address, type in the security text displayed, and click on "submit." 

After clicking on "submit," check your inbox for an email with a link to confirm your subscription. Click on that link. 

Once you do, you will receive all future posts in your email inbox. 

Last but not least, we will be moving this entire blog to Substack in the not-to-distant future, hopefully by the end of 2025.

·        Recommend this blog:

Feel free to recommend this blog to others. Send them to https://thotsaboutgod.blogspot.com or any specific article you find helpful. 

·        Ask questions:

If you have any questions or comments on any article, submit them at the bottom of the post just like you see below. 

IF a comment field is not showing, you will see "no comments", "1 comment" etc. If you do, simply click on it, and a field to make a comment will appear as you see in the pic below.  

(when you have finished your comment before you "publish" (i.e. post)  your comment, select "comment as" right under the comment area. Just pick "anonymous" as you see in the picture above if you don't use any of the other options listed).

Thanks for dropping by! Enjoy!

Grace and Peace to you through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

Jim Deal 

Abiding vs being our own god.

What is a key indicator of our inclination to try and be our own god? 

A clue? How often do we battle with whether we are abiding or not abiding in God's love? In other words, do we find ourselves ever wavering between trusting or not trusting in his love for us? 

Our answer regarding trusting in his love will give us an idea of our answer to the first question regarding being our own god. The extent to which we accept his love is the extent to which we will no longer feel the need to try to generate love on our own i.e. be our own god. 

Until we wrestle with this question of abiding, we do not have a clear idea of how inclined we are to not abide. To attempt to sustain ourselves; to be our own god; to trust ourselves instead of God is evidence of our not abiding.

To appreciate the significance of this we must first know what it *means to abide. 

In short abiding is to *remain, stay or stand firm. But in what? In our trust of God's love. 

Joh 15:9  As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 

We are to never move from a posture of trust. It is knowing that even though our faith/confidence (and especially our feelings) in God's love waivers, God's love itself never does. Gods love is fixed and set upon us, because of Christ i.e. it is based solely on what he did, not what we do or feel. We are called to never waiver from confidence in this reality i.e. to abide in it. 

It is a call to have a trust in his love that is equal to (mirrors) that love. Our faith should be as steadfast (firm, consistent) as his love set upon us is steadfast, fixed, firm i.e. our trust (abiding) in his love is to be just as relentless and immovable as his love for us is. This is what he calls us to. 

If it looks or feels like his love is not there for whatever reason, it's simply not the case. God says he loves us (as well as proved it by making a way to freely pour it out on us in Christ) and because he does it is so. His love is not deterred or determined by what we think, feel or experience. 

And that is because his love is not based on any of these things. It is only based solely on what Christ has already done on our behalf. God has proven what he says is trustworthy because of what he did to restore us back into a relationship of complete love with him. He gave us his Son while we were yet sinners. This is the demonstration of his love and proof it is there, real and complete i.e. it is finished, regardless of what we do or experience. There is nothing else left to do by him or us. End of discussion. 

We may feel and say in any given moment we don't sense God's love. But once we are in Christ it doesn't matter. It is there regardless. And the work Christ did on our behalf is the only proof necessary (of course if he "...did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?"). The invitation to abide is to remain steadfast in believing this objective reality of God's love for us regardless of whatever else we are experiencing or feeling.

True belief translates to action

But it doesn't just end with belief. The degree to which we believe this is the degree to which we will act for God's honor by displaying that same love we are given, to others. All true believing results in action. Jas 2:17-18; 26 Joh 12:47,14:15;1Jn 2:3,4; 1Jn 5:3. If there is no action, there is no true believing.  

It is in displaying that love that we also more fully partake (abide) in it and experience it as it flows through us to others (for more discussion this click here). 

In short, abiding is first recognizing, believing and receiving God's love for us in Christ. Than acting in and by that love toward others for his honor, their good and our joy.

*abide - μένω - menō; a prim. vb.; to stay, abide, remain: - abide (16), abides (22), abiding (4), await (1), continue (4), continues (1), endures (3), enduring (1), lasting (2), lives (1), living (1), remain (20), remained (6), remaining (1), remains (8), stand (1), stay (11), stayed (11), staying (3), waiting (1).

Depressed Christians?

Can a mature believer experience depression?

When you recognize that depression is basically due to self-loathing and guilt over an increasingly acute sense of our extreme failure to trust God, yes depression can be and often is a part of the maturing Christians experience, possibly even in greater degrees as we mature because we become increasingly aware of how weak and untrusting of God we can be.

And that is because we are all extreme failures (Rom 3:23. For a fuller discussion click here and here) in trusting God totally.  This is in the godly sense not necessarily in the worldly sense i.e. not necessarily in the eyes of others (by world standards, we may be a great "success") but compared to God's original intended design, we are far from it. 

When we recognize we were in fact created to know God, enjoy him, and show forth his glory, reflecting his love back to him, spreading his love and greatness to other fellow image-bearers as well as all creation (i.e. stewarding the planet) and the scope and significance of this - when none of us even come close to meeting the mark - we began to see the extent of our failure. Who among the most mature of us can say we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and our neighbor as ourselves 24/7? Certainly not me. This awareness increases the more we know God and see our true condition more clearly.

Without the love of God moving us to show forth his glory we are all about ourselves; about self-promotion; being our own god. The very same disposition that Adam and Eve bought into and adopted. In short, we are totally incapable of fulfilling our design unaided... and were never intended to do so. Only by the life and love of God infused in us by His Spirit can we bring forth true, lasting life again (though we can bring temporary life to others and do daily).  

And what was God's warning? The day you seek to operate independently of me - to be your own god - you will die. Die? In what sense did we die? We rejected God, the source of life itself. We "unplugged" from the life source if you will. Our connection with the life and Spirit of God was immediately severed, eventually leading to our physical death. And from that day until now we have not sought to return to the source of life but have been desperately seeking to replace what we lost (God) by being our own god i.e. through self-effort...using creation - internally and externally - as a means. 

However, as God is diffusive (overflowing and out-flowing), we were designed to be diffusive, with one key difference. God is the source of life (Jn 17:3), we are the conduits through which his life flows. First from Him, reflected back to him from the Son, in, by, and through the Spirit, then out to others. If we cut ourselves off from the "life source" we can not and will not spread his love and glory as we were created to. We are empty of the love and life of God. It's simply no longer there to be diffused. We are takers without His love, not the givers we were originally designed to be.

So what then happens to us, as we become more and more *aware of our total spiritual bankruptcy? We feel guilty. And not just because it's some vague sense of self-imposed punishment, but because we are in fact guilty. We do not do what we were designed to do i.e. love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and our neighbors as ourselves. This indeed is to greatest and most challenging order (greatest commandment) God gives us. 

 

So as maturing believers, we now battle. We battle with an increasing awareness of the depth of our brokenness hopefully, along with an increasing and matching awareness of the love of God for us as his broken but redeemed, adopted, and perfectly cherished children.  

The irony is our increasing awareness of being perfectly loved because of Christ, allows us to be increasingly honest with how unlovely we truly are. We know God does not and will not reject us due to our brokenness because Christ took our deserved rejection/ banishment and condemnation for us. And this work by him on our behalf is infinitely greater in depth and width than our brokenness (Rom 5:20). Thanks to Christ and his willingly giving himself up to restore us back to our original design.

So we struggle between growing awareness of God's perfect and infinite love and our total and complete desire to operate outside of this love i.e. our rejection of it and embracing self-love in various forms.

I propose that the awareness of our true guilt and any subsequent depression is an opportunity and possibly even a call by God to dig deeper into who Christ is, what he did, and why he did it. It is an opportunity to look hard at the extent of his work on our behalf and come to rejoice in it more and more. Our depression forces us to go back time and again and drink from an infinite, never-ending fountain of God's love and forgiveness. And thanks be to God, his is the final word; our brokenness is not.  

Who are some believers who have admitted to struggles with depression? King David, ("why are you cast down oh my soul..."),  Job, Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah, Jonah, Paul the apostle, Martin Luther. Charles Spurgeon, Henri Nouwen, John Piper to name some better-known believers. All of these great men of faith spoke of struggling with depression.

"For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him, we have set our hope that he will deliver us again." 2Co 1:8-10

"We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested click here in our bodies. 

For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh...

...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, but the things that are unseen are eternal."  2Co 4:8-11, 16-18  

For a discussion on healing trauma click here. 

For a discussion on whether pain is normal or just common click here. 

For a discussion on the greater our sin the greater God's grace click here. 

For a discussion on how we have God fully but not all of Him yet click here. 

For a discussion on the difference between good and bad guilt click here. 

For a discussion on how we can experience more of God's love through our suffering click here. 
_____________________________________________________________

*An increasing and deeper awareness of our rebellious independence from God is actually a sign of increasing maturity. 

Competence – good or bad?

Is competence good or bad? It depends. 

Generally, it is defined as possessing the required skill, knowledge, qualification, or capacity to complete a task well. By this definition, it would be good.

But if competence is the basis from which we derive our sense of value/importance/meaning, it comes from a broken place; a place of emptiness/need.

If it is the fruit of knowing we are already valued/loved by God, it comes from a place of fullness/wholeness; it comes as a love response to God's love for us, i.e. its origin is God himself - he is the driving force, the "power supply" and impetus behind our applied skills and is therefore good.

Most of what society considers good is actually the fruit of rebellious independence from God. It is an attempt at making life work without God; at being our own god - to generate meaning/purpose/significance by and through our independent efforts i.e. efforts not driven by God's love but our seeking to feel important. It is operating in the flesh vs the Spirit; to get, not to give. 

Every action driven by the need to feel important/significant/valuable is an action of rebellious independence from God. It may be valuable to society and culture, but it does not bring honor to God and is therefore not of eternal/lasting value.

Every action driven out of a sense of importance/ significance/value derived through our relationship with God is an act of dependence on God. It is an act in response to God's love for us, i.e. God is the source of the power behind the action. His love is what moves us to act. We are acquiring our significance from God, and therefore do not need to obtain it outside of Him.  

Acts of rebellious independence bring honor to ourselves. Therefore, they only have temporary value.

Acts of dependence on God bring honor to him and are of eternal value, for only he is eternal and that which is done for his honor.

For a discussion on the "flip side" of this click here. 

"For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.  If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire..." 

"Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart (i.e. the motive behind our actions). Then each one will receive his commendation from God." 1Co 3:11-15; 4:5

"...who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness..." i.e. hidden motives.

"...The purposes of the heart…"  i.e. motives are the key to valid actions versus actions that are invalid. Things produced from a wrong purpose/motive are invalid actions i.e. have no eternal value and are therefore "burned up."

For a discussion on excellence click here.