Why is there pain, suffering and evil?

Whether consciously or not we have ²all turned away from God, the source of love, life, and all things.

God told us the day we turned away and no longer followed his wise and loving direction, we would die... 

*physically - ¹we would return to the dust we came from. And 

*spiritually - we no longer possess the breath (Spirit) of God, therefore we no longer experience the immediate and direct love, life, and presence of God. Without God's life (breath-Spirit) we are no longer able to commune with God - who is Spirit. 

This warning was not a caution God gave out of retaliation but a warning out of His care and desire for our best.

Yet sadly and foolishly we still turned away from God to created things - i.e. to our innate abilities, each other, and anything else in creation - in an attempt to make life work without God (life we already had in Him but turned away from). Why?  Because we believed we could find life on our own, apart from God - who is life and gives life to all things. 

We also believed we could find life in and through creation (which consists of both ⁹internal and external gifts). 

As a result, we continue to this day trying to restore our sense of meaning, purpose, and love apart from God - i.e. the life we lost by turning away from God, its source - in and through anything other than Him. At best God is an afterthought instead of our focus, if he's thought of it all. 

How do we know we have turned? In at least two ways.

1. We ³do not acknowledge all that we are and have comes from God and act accordingly i.e. we act as if God is either irrelevant or doesn't exist (though we might acknowledge or call out to Him as a last resort when we are in our greatest pain and darkness moments). We act as if he is not the Creator and Sustainer of all things. 

We assume everything is either an accident of time plus chance (the evolutionary model) or we simply ignore the evidence all around us that created things must come from a Creator who has a purpose and design for all things i.e. we rarely if ever give a thought to why He created in the first place.

2. We operate predominantly out of fear, not trust in God i.e. If we truly believed God was as good, wise, and powerful as he claimed, we would not be afraid to trust him. As it is *we wrestle with trusting him all the time (and go as far as blaming Him for our self-imposed pain). 

(*For a discussion on how faith is hard work click here when you have finished reading)

Our difficulty trusting God is often not evident until we go through extremely challenging circumstances. When we face our greatest pain is when we have our greatest doubts about God's goodness, love, wisdom, and power e.g.  "If you really loved me God why would you let this happen?" (not unlike what Christ went through in the garden of Gethsemane, yet without sin (i.e. distrust). If faced with extreme challenges few, if any of us would approach our pain as Christ did when he said, "not my will but yours be done." - Christ did what Adam - and we - failed to do. He remained faithful in the face of extreme adversity, even unto death. Unlike Christ few of us suffer to the point of dying, much less by being tortured).

As a result of our turning from God, everyone and everything is now broken, marred, and distorted. Nothing operates according to its original good design - how can it be if we are no longer fully plugged into the very source of life? This is like a sailboat without the wind or ocean. We are now only an empty shell of our former selves and God's intended design (though he is constantly working to restore us... more than not through our pain).

Because of this, the rest of Creation - by no choice of its own - is also in bondage, subject to decay, disease, and death, and awaiting those who trust Christ to be completely ⁴freed and in full union (glorified) with God - the Source of life, love, and all things.  

We and everything else is now broken. Broken things result in more things breaking, causing ongoing and increased pain; spiritually, emotionally, and physically (pain within - fear, anxiety as well as adverse health i.e. disease and eventual death...and pain without, through adverse circumstances i.e. the thorns and thistles of living in a broken world).

Pain is for our good!?

Ironically and incredibly, suffering entering the world was (and is) a ⁵good thing! How?! It would become our teacher from then on and be used by God as a reminder that life without God doesn't work as God intended. Pain is the potential means of humbling us, resulting in our returning to Him (if and when we pay attention and let it).

An old expression says you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink; however, there is a corollary... you can salt its oats. Pain is how God salts our oats.

Prolonged and deep pain can reveal to us the inadequacy of creation to give us what we most need in those times of overwhelming pain and help us see that created things alone (including other image bearers) can not sustain us spiritually and emotionally at the deepest and most important level. Nor can it prevent us from the ultimate loss and suffering of dying (no matter how hard we seek to prolong life).

Pain can be the means of our seeing that only an infinitely loving God can satisfy our deepest thirst and hunger (It is with good reason that Christ called himself the bread of life and the only one who offers living water that keeps us from ever thirsting again).

We must recognize only God, not creation (which includes ourselves and each other. Fellow humans are merely finite. Our need for love is infinite) can sustain us in our darkest times. Pain can guide us to the realization that true and lasting life is only found in the infinite Creator, nothing else. The greater our suffering the greater the opportunity to see the inadequacy of creation to ⁶meet our deepest needs and longings. 

When we peel back the layers and consider all this, we recognize all that God does is good, even - maybe especially - by allowing evil, death, and suffering to ⁷continue.

Why? Unfortunately without pain, we will continue to cling to created things and may never realize how deep and great our need for God is; that only He can meet our deepest and infinite longings, not created things. It can stir us to ⁸return to God. With it, there is a chance and opportunity we might...so pain remains for now as a potential means of leading us back to the Creator, the Source of creation, who is good and always acts for our good.

And if we do return He uses it to deepen our trust in Him even more.

Though we are the cause of the pain, not God, He takes it and uses it for good. The wonder is God uses the fruit of our rebellion - pain, suffering, and death - to draw us back to Himself. And when we turn from distrust back to trust in him, this is exactly what happens.

Because we all have already turned away, there is pain and suffering but if one returns and finds God due to their pain and suffering, it is good and totally worth the pain. Others may intend it for harm but God intends it for good.

From all this, we realize if God did not use evil for good it would not exist. Because He can and does, it remains; at least for now.

The good news is Christ died (by fully embracing our pain and suffering - caused by no fault of his own) so we could one day be completely freed of all suffering (including death). 

Thanks to Christ, we will be freed one day if we receive His offer. Pain and suffering will have done their job and no longer be needed. In the meantime, He invites you to come and choose life. 

The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. - Rev 22:17

For a further discussion on why God allows evil click here.

For a discussion on how we best impact the world for God's glory click here.

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Footnotes:

¹This does not mean we cease to exist, it means if Adam still possessed the life/Spirit of God he would have never physically died but lived forever and continued to have access to the Tree of Life. Death was not part of our original design and will no longer exist once we go into eternity and fully into God's presence, the source of life, love, and all things. 

¹Of course not everything about this world is evil and suffering. It is a curious mix of both good and evil. The creation still reflects significant elements of its original design which is good and beautiful - shrouded with a veil of sadness and the sense of something missing or incomplete. Nevertheless, creation continues to display something significant about the beauty and glory of God. So much so that we can not claim we know nothing about God. But this recognition alone is not enough. Pain often is also necessary to eventually leads us to see His beauty.

²Many have returned to God but before we did, this was our approach to life. Those who have returned, now look forward to the day all things will be fully restored with zero pain, suffering, and death. Thanks to God and His Son this is now possible.

³Unless he turns us back to himself.

⁴If you think the creation is beautiful now - and it is - just wait! For those who entrust themselves to him, they haven't seen anything yet!

⁵It was also the normal and natural outcome of us severing our connection with the source of life, love, and all things.

⁶apart from or outside of God, creation was never designed to be the source of our greatest comfort. Only a means of God showing His care for us. Creation was designed to point us to Him and His vast beauty and infinite love, not draw us away from Him. Created things alone - including other image-bearers - are inadequate and can only satisfy and sustain us on a temporary and superficial level. The greater our suffering, the more apparent this becomes if and when we return to Him.

⁷It is, after all, the absence of God that causes our pain to begin with. Pain and suffering are not a vengeful "getting even" by God for our turning away but the natural organic outcome of being disconnected from the source of life. This was confirmed when God did not reject Adam and Eve after their distrust but immediately provided both a short term (animal skins) and long-term solution (a promised savior - Gen 3:15) to their rebellion.

⁸Returning to God is our greatest good for God is good... the source of good and all good things. Without him, there is no creation to be enjoyed.

⁹Internal gifts consist of any natural innate gifts or abilities we are born with, whether artistic, musical, intellectual, athletic, and so on.

External gifts consist of anything outside of us that we use to sustain and improve our lives such as food, water, sunlight, plant and animal life, natural resources (minerals, gems, metals etc) etc. 

When we apply our internal gifts to the external gifts (natural resources) we are exercising our being in the image of God. So these are all good things. The problem is we don't do it to advance and honor God, the Giver of these, but to honor and advance ourselves.

rest

What does it mean to "rest" in God? Is there only one meaning?

I would suggest the Bible teaches there is an initial rest and an ongoing rest. 

After we have come into God's Kingdom and into our initial rest from His rightful judgment and condemnation, we are called to enter into and partake in an ongoing rest (contentment). 

The rest of this article will address ongoing rest. 

This occurs when we live according to two key truths.

1. We thank God for everything - especially the "bad" things - whether we understand why they are happening or not.

2. We faithfully (though not perfectly, necessarily) seek to do everything God calls us to do, whether we like it or not.

The 1st (i.e. hard circumstances) we do not control and must accept (receive) ¹passively, and the 2nd we do "control" and must pursue actively. 

Both require a choice we make by faith, and in this sense, both are active i.e. we choose - "control" - how we respond and how our circumstances affect us, not the circumstances. 

But neither can happen without God's strengthening/ empowering us (i.e. we can't do it in our own strength). But by His strength, which only comes through deeper trust in Him. 

We must come to a place where we fully recognize He is trustworthy in both what he allows (#1 above) and in what he calls us to (#2 above), and respond accordingly i.e. in and by faith. 

This is our choice alone and determines how these circumstances influence and shape us.

The theological underpinnings needed to live this way are infinitely deep, because they are grounded in our trust in the infinite love, power, faithfulness, care, and wisdom of God i.e. they must go as deep as God is vast, and as much as our faith allows us to embrace Him as being exactly who He is and claims to be.

To give assent to and ²faithfully carry or live these out, we must recognize (believe) God ³is always good, all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-loving at all times and in all things. 

If you doubt these things about God concerning you and difficult circumstances, you will not be in a posture of humility and dependence needed to enter His rest. You will remain - abide if you will - in a state of agitation i.e. unrest, anxiety, or fear.

Resting in God is the essence of the now-popular saying, "God is good all the time, and all the time God is good."

Does this mean we will never struggle with believing these things?

Christ himself - the founder and perfector of our faith - wrestled with this in the garden of Gethsemane. He wrestled with both obedience (active) and acceptance (passive) of what God was about to allow him to go through. 

What settled it for him was one very simple decision, "...not my will but yours be done." He came to the place of complete surrender and trust. Once he did, his struggle was over. He was at peace i.e. resting in his trust in the Father, regardless of what He was about to and did go through.

This is why he was able to calmly say to his disciples, "See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer, is at hand.” Matt 26:45b-46. 

He stared pain straight in the face and, out of his total trust in His Father's love, wisdom, and power, was able to embrace the pain, the humbling, and the shame he was about to go through during His crucifixion. From this point forward, he set his eyes on the cross and never looked back. 

Christ was empowered to make this decision because he believed (trusted) his Father was all-knowing, all-wise, all-powerful, and all-loving at that moment in that given circumstance. 

We, too, are called to this and can carry it out by the same strength we receive through this same trust in the Father. When we do, we too will calmly (peacefully) and deliberately move forward in life, no matter what is in front of us. 

For a discussion on how God uses evil for good click here.

For a further discussion on why God allows suffering and evil click here.

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¹Passively only in the sense that we don't necessarily have to or can do anything regarding challenging circumstances (of course, if we can, we should take action, but sometimes nothing we do can change things). However, we are never to be passive in terms of faith. Our faith must be actively and willfully engaged to enter and remain in an ongoing state of rest - peace. 

Both being thankful for challenges and engaging others in sacrificial love require faith (in the same way it did for Christ), so in this sense, everything involves active engagement and is not passive. 

²Some have suggested that if you break the word faithful down, it simply means full of faith i.e. faith full. To be faithful (obedient) no matter what we encounter, we must be full of faith.

³To acknowledge these things about God is not easy (it wasn't for Christ either), especially when staring into the face of great evil, struggle, and personal pain. 

What would you say is the biggest thing God is after in the lives of his children? 

Is it not our experiencing a closer relationship with Him?

and

The most important element of any relationship is trust

and

That which requires our greatest trust is suffering, pain, and challenges. We must embrace these and thank God for them. Without faith/trust this isn't possible.

How? The "good" God works in and through all the things we go through - for those of us who love Him (Rom 8:28) - is to make us like His Son (Rom 8:29). In doing so, we experience the same level of glorious and blissful communion with the Father that the Son did (and does). This is the ultimate good end God is working toward, for us, through our struggles. Not necessarily improved circumstances. This has nothing to do with improved circumstances (though it could and sometimes does lead to them, just not automatically). 

What better end is there than to experience God in all his love and glory to the greatest extent possible? 

And what better means is there to participate in this, other than having the same faith (and faithfulness) Christ had? 

And what faith do we have if not a tested faith? 

And what tests our faith most - and Christ's - if not pain and suffering?

Immutability vs Aseity...Does God change

This post may raise more questions than it answers. If so, I think they are worth raising. Anyone who wishes to add to this discussion, I invite you to in the comment section below. 

Is the community of Father, Son, and Spirit, static or dynamic? (The operative word being "community" vs God's essence).

What do I mean?

We are told God never changes (he is immutable). We see this along with His ¹aseity when he describes Himself as "I AM" i.e. Who God is, He always has been and always will be. He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. He is the only never-changing, ever-present, self-sustained (aseity) being among all beings. 

We might even say he is never changing (immutable) because he is self-sustaining (aseity). He needs nothing or no one - outside of himself - to be fully and perfectly God. 

But in what sense is he never changing? Is he unchanging in every aspect of His being? Does he ever change in the way he expresses or experiences Himself - within the community of Father, Son, and Spirit - or without toward others, i.e. in the "economic" expression of His unchanging essence? 

Does the way - or manner in which - He displays the fullness of His majesty and glory ever change? But this is a different question, right? Or is it?

Is it possible that God can enter into and experience a fuller participation of himself - of His essence? Does God's immutability require that God can never engage in a new or fuller expression of his love within the relationship of Father, Son, and Spirit by extending it out to others and doing whatever is necessary to do so? This certainly appears to have occurred during and since the incarnation of Christ. 

Everything is present to God, yet somehow Christ entered and took part in time in a way he had not before the incarnation. Possibly Christ's stepping into time via his physicality was the primary expression of His incarnation i.e. taking on human form was necessary for him to participate in time since everything is present to God. We could say this was a change in how God addressed things outside Himself (vs within Himself, which never changes). A paradox we might not be able to fully grasp and make sense of logically since God is three persons while only one God, yet, in some real way, it is true. 

Some try to address this paradox by saying Christ experienced time as a man but not as God. The problem is Christ was both God and man in one person (he may have emptied himself of certain divine attributes while on earth but he never stopped being God). The best we can determine, he is both God and man to this day and will be ²throughout eternity. Only logic - certainly not scripture - seeks to separate what God appears to have joined. 

Where we finite creatures get into trouble is trying to force things to be logical when God doesn't. There is and always will be mystery within God because of God being infinite and we, in our understanding, power, and presence, are finite i.e. we are limited, God is not. There are no actual contradictions within God but that doesn't mean we are able to fully understand everything about Him. Though we are in His image, God's ways are not our ways and ours are not his. The infinite God trying to explain to finite man all there is to know about Him is like a calculus teacher trying to explain calculus to an ant. The only way that would be possible is if the teacher somehow imparted special knowledge to the ant to just get the basics - and in this case, since the teacher is Almighty God himself, this is not only possible but necessary. But if God chose to do so, it would only be because God did this supernaturally and not because of us i.e. not because of any natural, innate ability we have to grasp the infinite God unaided. Nor would God do so out of something lacking within Him. Remember he is the "I AM" - self-sustaining God - who needs nothing or no one other them himself. 

If God chose to go about things in such a way as to enter a fuller and deeper experience of himself, this is not something God has to do i.e. there is nothing missing or lacking within God. He does not need to and is no less or more God in doing or not doing so. It is simply a fuller engagement and participation in who He already is. If anything drives God it is a desire to more fully participate in the fellowship of love between the Father, Son, and Spirit.

To say it another way, there is nothing outside of God forcing him to act in any particular

way. But that is different from something within God moving Him to carry out a particular action. All God's actions are determined by who God IS, within Himself, and not by any outside influence. Any and all things done by God come from within Him i.e. are driven internally, not externally. For nothing is greater than God or more worth knowing than God, even for Him.

One thing we can be sure of, scripture must always be the acid test of defining who God is, not logic. I say this because efforts to understand God often look to logic more than scripture. 

I'm not suggesting scripture is illogical, but there are truths in scripture that go beyond our ability to reason and understand (i.e. we are finite - limited). They do not always appear logical but appear to contradict each other. Yet we see this in scripture often. Examples would be how man is fully accountable for choosing or not choosing God but God is the author and "finisher" of salvation or that God is 3 persons yet one God or Christ is fully God yet fully man. As a result, we have different conclusions among great minds on these as well as other theological points. Whereas if we allow scripture to say what it says and not force it to say something else in order for it to work for us logically i.e. in order to believe it's true whether we can make logical sense of seemingly contradictory qualities about God in scripture - we would have less disagreement and get much closer to an accurate understanding of who God is, even though we might not have a full understanding and "closure" about who he is to the degree we would like to ³logically.  

The bottom line is God called us to live by faith, and that is not always simple or easy. We like control over faith and can use logic as a form of control e.g. if we can understand how God operates, we might be able to predict (i.e. "control") how he will work in our lives. Use reason, but when reason comes up short, we simply must trust God, and accept His ways are not ours or ours are His.

What makes God "tick"

The love of God poured out to others is love flowing out from the fullness of God's being, i.e. it is not done out of a need or void within Him, but out of the fullness of who He is. God acts out of fullness, not out of need or something lacking within Himself. God's desire to pour himself forth and the giving of Himself comes from a desire that others benefit by the fullness of who He is. Does God also benefit? Yes, in the sense that he finds joy in seeing other's experience and know him to a greater degree, but not in the sense that this adds anything to God's being or essence i.e. makes Him more God. He already is fully God. He is not becoming God.

Why? Because God needs nothing or no one. He already has everything in the fullness of community within the Father, Son, and Spirit. If God had never created, he would be just as much God as he has been from all eternity past.

However, because God has the greatest worth above all things, and is Father, Son, and Spirit, and desires for us to take part in this Trinitarian community to the greatest extent possible it is only reasonable that God would desire, if possible, to partake of this community to the greatest extent and experience more of who he is in fuller and deeper ways. You could say God "needs" himself i.e. He desires to participate more fully into His love, among and between Father and Son, in by and through the Spirit. And if there is a way for God to increase or expand participation in the love between Father, Son, and Spirit by creating others like Himself as His image-bearers and giving them a will to choose or not choose him, then rescue them from the consequences of not choosing him, this would certainly not involve God needing anyone or thing outside himself.

For a further discussion on how God stepped into time for us click here. 

For a further discussion on why Christ is the only begotten of the Father click here. 

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¹The Aseity (Self-Existence) of God | Monergism

 https://www.monergism.com/topics/god’s-attributes/aseity-self-existence-god

The Aseity (Self-Existence) of God "The Father has life in himself." - John 5:26 

"The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things." Acts 17:24-25

²Is Christ less God because he is fully man or less of a man because he is fully God? No, not according to scripture which takes precedence over logic which may appear to suggest otherwise. However scripture is the final authority, not reason.  This does not mean scripture is unreasonable or illogical but when it appears God's words are in conflict with logic, the God inspired words recorded - i.e. the Bible - must be the final authority by virtue of being God's words i.e. God is the final and only arbitrator of truth.

³For a fuller discussion on the limits of logic and the value of paradox and biblical truths in tension, click here.

All things are lawful but...

1Corinthians 6:12

“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. 


1 Corinthians 10:23

“All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up.

What are these verses saying and why are they saying basically the exact same thing in different ways, and in two totally different locations four chapters apart? 

Like all passages, context -  historical and cultural setting - is key to accurately understand any given passage and its true meaning. 

The Corinthian believers were having a unique issue with being distracted and living lives somewhat out of control regarding self indulgence; even more than other churches Paul ministered to. In part because Corinth was a hub of commerce ripe with both material and sensual distractions as well as open idol worship. As a result, Paul felt it necessary to help them understand that even though they are under grace - "all things are lawful" - there are consequences to living contrary to God's design and righteous standard - i.e. the law.

What is interesting is what these verses have in common is also very instructive in determining what is meant by their differences.

The first (chapter 6) talks about not being dominated (ruled/controlled) by something and the latter (chapter 10) about how some things do not “build up” or strengthen our walk with God.

One emphasizes how some actions have a bad effect on us - dominate us externally and some hinder something good within us - i.e. hinder us from being built up spiritually. 

How does the first part of these two passages that "all things are lawful" relate to the last part of each?

Even though we are free in Christ and can never do anything to cause his love to stop or separate us from Him, living contrary to God's direction/law still has negative consequences. We may go to heaven if we die prematurely of a heart attack from overeating, but we still die. 

Violating God's design by overeating may not stop God's love but it doesn't stop the consequences either.  Being perfectly free (legally) to do anything we want (such as eating poorly) does not mean doing so is OK or without harmful consequences. It can result in us being dominated - controlled - by those things (1 Cor 6:12) and hindered from being strengthened in our relationship with God (1 Cor 10:23)  - i.e. doing things that go contrary to God's design (or law) won't legally separate us from God or be held against us, because Christ already fully satisfied the requirements of the law. Just because all things are lawful in this sense, does not mean it is good or helpful practically. 

Our good standing before God, as His beloved children, is legally and fully established in and by Christ, not us. We don't become a child of God by obeying the law but we flourish when we follow God's design and honor God more and are more productive and joyful when we do. 

Simply stated, because of Christ, we have been declared righteous by God himself. Nothing we do or don't do will affect this status or God's loving posture toward us. We are perfectly accepted and fully embraced as children of God no matter what we do or don't do or experience. 

Paul's point is in Christ nothing we do or don't do will be legally held against us. i.e. “All things are lawful,”  

The fact that this is in quotes also indicates it was a common saying among the Corinthians and apparently used to justify all kinds of harmful behavior. This saying is an indication the Corinthians misunderstood grace by abusing their freedom in Christ.

To say all things are lawful, though true, is shocking if read alone. At first glance, it sounds like obeying God's directions (moral law) doesn't matter. Yet Paul deliberately agrees with this apparently common saying to help drive home the importance of fully grasping the completeness of Christ's work. Being right with God has nothing to do with our obedience but only with Christ's obedience for our sake i.e. on our behalf and assigned or credited to us. Paul did not wish to dilute or diminish this foundational truth in any way, to the point he was willing to quote this saying and let it be misapplied and obedience misunderstood. 

But he also sought to drive home that living any way we wish is not in our best interests no more than a child in a candy or toy store doing as he wishes is in theirs. Even if a child ate candy until he got sick - and is no less the father's child - doesn't make eating the candy a good idea. As our loving Father, he gives us clear direction to avoid what is harmful i.e. things (idols) that could dominate us and hinder our pursuit of Christ.

Paul is simply addressing the tension between the interplay of grace vs law. Being under grace means the grounds for our being accepted as God's child is Christ's obedience, not ours. However, it does not mean the law no longer has value or should be ignored. What has changed is how we approach or relate to the law, not the law itself. As Paul said in Romans, the law is good. 

We are not under grace so we can do ¹whatever we want. When understood properly, being under grace actually empowers us to live righteously. A key reason we are under grace is so we might naturally - or rather supernaturally - and organically fulfill the law by our words and actions. We obey God's standards not to be justified but as evidence; that we are already in Christ.

When we understand the law is simply an expression of God's loving will and direction, not a "do it or else" list, this makes even more sense i.e.  It is not a requirement or demand to be met but loving instructions to guide, direct, and protect us. 

In short, we are wise not to ignore God's law. To say it positively, we are wise to give the law our utmost attention; not as a means of being made right with or more acceptable to God, but as a means of living our lives to the maximum of our potential, as we are designed to.  

The ultimate end - greatest commandment - of all God's directions/commands/will is that we love him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and our neighbor as ourselves. This is a good thing, not bad. It is not just honoring God, but is good for us and our neighbor. Living according to God's law - wise directions - does not cause God to love us more, but it does result in us experiencing more of that love. 

The question isn't whether we are ²allowed - is it lawful - to do certain things or not? But does our conduct strengthen our walk and relationship with God or hinder it? Does it better enable us to honor him or hinder it? All things being lawful does not mean all things are good for us.

For a discussion on walking in the Spirit and not under the law click here. 

For a discussion on if obedience matters, click here. 

For a further discussion on law and grace click here. 

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¹The interesting part is when we truly understand grace we want to please God i.e. do what he wants us to do. It is counterintuitive. As Paul said, "the goodness of God is meant to lead to repentance..." not so we can justify living lawlessly.

We also see this in the book of Jeremiah (quoted in the book of Hebrews) that the time is coming (for Jeremiah's audience) when God will "write the law on our hearts" i.e. God will create in us the desire to faithfully pursue (obey) Him. How does he do that? By remembering our sins no more.

Christ also said obedience is the greatest evidence of our love for God.

²Allowed only in the sense that disobedience does not cause God to condemn and reject us if we are in Christ. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ because He did everything necessary to remove it from us forever. 

As Christ shouted out right before He gave up His spirit, "It is finished," everything required to restore us to a right standing with God was completed! There was and is nothing left to do by God much less by us.

Being devalued

When you are wronged you are being devalued i.e. you're being treated as unimportant - insignificant, worthless; as if you don't matter.

Why is this wrong? Because you do matter; you have value and significance.

Why are ¹we valuable and significant? 

Because God is the most valuable and most significant of all, and He made us like himself - in His image. Therefore, we have intrinsic value. 

Our intrinsic value is not based on something you or I do but who we are, who God created us to be i.e. like Himself - in His image.

Why did God make us this way?

So we can participate in who He is - as the most significant and valuable being of all - in order to partake of and enjoy the eternal bliss (happiness) within the community of Father and Son in, by, and through the Spirit.

And when we do, we reflect His value and significance back to Him and out to others like nothing else in creation i.e. only we are created in His image. The only other being described in this way is the Son of God. 

To treat someone (who is like God) with honor and dignity - which is rightfully theirs as God's image-bearer - honors God and them for who they truly are, i.e. as significant and valuable. God being the most high, most valuable and significant of all, and humanity being like him. 

Our most basic value has to do with who we are, who we were created to be by the infinitely valuable/supreme God, not in what we do. We can only do, because of who we are 1st. 

And we can do as we were designed to only if and when empowered by God's Love-Spirit. 

Our value may be expressed and displayed by what we do but is not the grounds of it. God and who he made us to be, is the basis of our value.

When we see this we understand why loving God with all we are and have and our neighbor as ourselves is the 1st and 2nd greatest commandment and why the 2nd follows the 1st.

Everything about who we are and what we do must start with God, and return back to Him - for from him, through him, and to him are all things. To him be all glory (honor) forever! Amen!

In summary, there are 4 reasons we are valuable and significant!

1. God is a being of infinite value and significance; we are like Him. This is who we are and has nothing to do with our actions i.e. what we ¹do.

2. Because we are like God we can partake of and enjoy His value and significance in a way no other being - other than himself - can. 

3. And we can bring glory (honor) and joy to God by enjoying, trusting, and living as He designed i.e. in union and faithful pursuit and enjoyment of Him and His directions...

4. Thereby reflecting God's value and significance to others i.e. loving our neighbor as we love ourselves. 

Because this is true of all men and women before they come to Christ - i.e. this is how God "hard wired" us - they can reflect Him in a significant way once they are restored to a right relationship with Him and indwelt and empowered by his Love/Spirit.

They can bear good fruit thereby reflecting and honoring God - their infinitely valuable Creator - like nothing else in Creation can, since nothing else is created like God; in His image. 

We alone are like God - in his image. To not be treated accordingly is a huge violation/ offense against us - who we are - and against our Creator who made us this way.

For further discussions on our value click 

Created for glory 

Worthless, rotten sinners? 

Does God value us? 

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¹though it does explain how and why we live for His honor and glory.

The law, grace, and God's will

We cannot see or receive the full demands of the law until we grasp the fullness of God's ¹grace. Without a clear grasp of grace, the ²law crushes us when we fully grasp what it asks of us.

On the other hand, in order to have a clear understanding of God's direction and will, we must have a clear understanding of the law i.e. God's moral standards and direction-will. The law spells out, in no uncertain terms, the conduct God desires (wills) and designs for us. That conduct and design are God's expressed, revealed, or written will - vs his secret, vocational or providential will. 

Nevertheless we cannot properly benefit from the law or receive its direction the right way until we have a clear grasp of grace. 

Both the law and grace are vital in our relationship with God and must both be held in their proper place and order. 

Grace is the oil (lubricant) and ³fuel of our relationship with God and the law is the track (directions) we run on (not as a requirement to be accepted by God but as the means by which we reach our maximum speed - potential - and how we honor Him most). 

Loving God with everything we have and our neighbor as our self - i.e. the 1st and 2nd greatest commands - are the ultimate standard and our highest design.

We tend to focus on one side or the other i.e. legalism (law/obedience) or antinomianism (grace/faith). We are inclined to do so due to our lack of trust in God. 

But when properly understood, law and grace (as God intends it) are not in conflict. They go hand in hand. True trust (faith) filled, love-driven obedience is neither of these.

Walking with God by grace is truly freeing. Once we fully grasp God's infinite grace, we will never be the same. There is no longer any condemnation or rejection for our distrust, failure, or disobedience. Only God's complete embrace and perfect acceptance are ours in and through Christ. 

But that doesn't mean walking with God is mushy or wishy-washy. It is solid and has teeth. Because God's law clearly lays out the best way to operate - i.e. according to His design - to not live according to His clear direction (love God and neighbor) is to our harm, lose, or eventual destruction and that of others. It has real consequences, just like running a jet on gas instead of jet fuel has consequences. It's not a question of judgment but of operating as God designed us to.

Living contrary to His design-will-law matters, similar to using equipment according to the owner's manual matters. If the equipment doesn't operate as it was designed, it does not run properly and eventually breaks down -  not to mention never reaching its maximum efficiency and potential. Not operating according to the manual (the "law" on how the equipment works best) always results in negative consequences i.e. equipment failure.

If we are to know and walk with God well, we must know and walk with him exactly as he prescribes. The law isn't a list of  requirements we must complete to be acceptable and accepted by God but neither is it mere recommendations. To operate optimally, we must operate according to His direction, which is also the way He designed us to operate. Walking with God is grounded in truth/reality. There are no ambiguities within God or his direction. Any ambiguities lie only within us and our lack of understanding of God; his directions, design, and purpose.

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. Romans 8:1‭-‬4 ESV  

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. Matthew 5:17 ESV

For a discussion on legalism click here

For a discussion on walking in the spirit and not under the law click here

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¹Grace consists of God fully receiving us in all our brokenness and having his eyes set upon us in perfect love and care even when we stray...no, actually, especially when stray.

This is only because Christ fully satisfied the demands of God's law on our behalf and credited us with His perfect obedience as if it was our own. He now sees us in the same way He views Christ, with perfect affection and delight. In Christ, God now sees and receives us as perfect, without flaw. He could not set his love upon us otherwise.

²By law, I mean God's moral standard - not ceremonial rituals that were done away with by Christ fulfilling them. 

God's moral standard is summed up in the greatest commandment to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and the 2nd which is like it... loving our neighbor as ourselves. This is what we are called to live out, not in order to be received by God but in response to His relentless love, we desire to honor God for who he is - loving, merciful, patient, gracious, and kind etc. - and our fellow image bearers for who they are i.e. like God, worthy of our love.

³To be precise love is the fuel that drives our obedience but this is love granted to us only in and through grace. 

acceptance vs pleasing

What is the difference between being accepted (received by) someone and pleasing them i.e. bringing them joy?

God fully accepts us

We are told God fully accepts us when we are in Christ. Nothing we do, say, or go through will make this more or less so than it already is. In the eyes of God, we are perfect and fully loved as if we are perfect (even though we are not).

We can please Him 

However, as our loving Father (parent), he is always delighted when we faithfully pursue Him and His directions (commands). This doesn't mean he loves us more for doing so, it means we experience and participate in His love more fully which brings Him greater joy.  He delights in our delight in Him. 

This isn't hard to understand when we consider our kids. Because they are our kids, who we love dearly, we always want what's best for them no matter what. When they go down a path we know is ¹not good for them, our love is expressed even more by the ache it causes us and by the actions we take to help prevent their harm - even if it causes them some pain (loss) now to avoid a greater pain (loss) later. We love our kids no matter what and simply do not want our kids to be harmed ¹if at all possible. 

And when they return and acknowledge they have been on the wrong path, are we not delighted? Yes, but why? 

Just as the father of the prodigal son was delighted to see his son return - so much so that he ran to him when he saw him a far way off (why do you think he spotted him so far away? He was scanning the horizon hoping and looking for his return). His love for his son was steadfast and never waned even in his sons rebellion and wandering. In this way, our heavenly Father pursues and delights in us when we return to Him in order to pursue and honor him. He knows our honoring him is in our best interest and for his greatest glory.

If this is the kind of love we have for our kids - imperfect as we and our love are - how much more so is this the kind of love our perfect heavenly Father has for us?

7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, it will be opened.

9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! Matthew 7:7-11

For a discussion on whether God's love is conditional or unconditional click here  

For a discussion on being under grace not law click here

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¹we know that pain can be a good teacher, so we may allow our kids to make mistakes. We simply make ourselves available to comfort and embrace them when they return and seek it and us.  

As a child, when my dad spanked me, he would say something like "this hurts me more than it does you."  I would think to myself "sure it does dad" having no idea what he meant. Once I had my kids I understood. He was inflicting a smaller pain to prevent me from experiencing a much greater pain if I continued on the destructive course I was on.

When my kids were young we had a golden retriever named Buddy. Though he was a great dog he had zero street sense...less than zero. He had wandered into the street on several occasions and at this point had been hit at least 3 times. As a result, he was once laid up for almost a month from one incident. 

One day he had gotten off his chain and bolted for the street. I ran after him screaming "stop Buddy" and was able to grab him right before he ran into traffic. I yanked him into the yard, grabbed a small branch from the tree, and swatted his backside until he yelped. My son yelled "stop! You're hurting him, dad." To which I replied, "exactly!" Then I explained to David that causing Buddy a little pain now may prevent him from going into the street again and getting killed... far more significant harm. I asked my son which was more acceptable to him, for Buddy to get killed or to experience a little pain now that might prevent him from being killed in the future. He got it. 

God desires our highest good and knows that He alone is that highest good and we experience him most fully in our faithful pursuit of him. When we veer off that path (and run into traffic) He will either allow us to suffer the consequences so we learn to more faithfully pursue him or deliberately and directly chasten us - remember it is those who God loves that he corrects. However, when we are faithfully pursuing him, he is pleased because he knows it not only brings him his highest and rightful honor but also is for our greatest good. This has nothing to do with whether he does or doesn't accept and love us and everything to do with the fact that he already perfectly does in Christ. The fruit of knowing we are perfectly loved is faithfulness to the only one who loves us perfectly.