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. 

The greatest lesson from Job?

Why is the book of Job in the Bible? After all, it appears God never answers Jobs' most pressing question of why he ⁵suffered. At least not directly. So what is the point of the book?

Could it be that Job encountered and wrestled with all his pain so his story could be told ¹primarily for the benefit of others? Is God, through Job's example, seeking to reveal to the rest of us (as well as to Job) how deeply our distrust of God runs when things are hard; how distrust is our most basic problem and trust is our greatest need and not deliverance from pain and suffering? This is where the book of Job eventually takes us through Job's example i.e. that God is God. He knows all things and what is best, we do not. That He is worthy of our total trust and ultimately calls the shots, not us.

Not exactly what we want to hear when we are in the throws of great anguish, is it? 

When we think we're wise we realize we still know very little. At least this is what Job finally recognized. It is a humbling process to realize that God is God and we aren't. That he knows what is best for us and we don't. This is the reversal of the lie Adam bought into. That we can be our own god and don't need God for life - when in fact we are dependent on God for our very breath as well as everything else. This is a hard pill to swallow for most. 

Revealing to us our deeply buried distrust may be the greatest lesson and key takeaway God seeks to reveal through Job to anyone willing to listen. 

Job is us and we are Job. When we are in our deepest pain and wrestling with our greatest doubts, we are all the same. When pressed beyond our limits we discover we don't trust God's wisdom, power, or goodness. 

Do we see any indication elsewhere in scripture that distrust - not pain - might be our biggest issue?

Paul cites Job

We get a hint of this when Paul cites Job at the end of Romans 11 in verses 34-36. 

By Paul using key excerpts from Job we may be getting further indication of a primary purpose of why Job went through all his suffering - maybe the main purpose.

Paul had just spent 3 entire chapters (Rom 9-11) addressing the thorny issue of ²Israel's national turning away from and rejection of their promised Messiah. What an absolute tragedy and apparent failure this must have seemed to many within and outside of Israel. Had God failed His promise to ⁷deliver Israel from their Roman oppressors? 

Interestingly, Paul ends these 3 chapters (chapters 9-11) in Romans, citing the same key truths ²Job came to realize in order to address what was a significant area of doubt for national Israel at that time.

The seeming failure of God to deliver Israel from their physical and political slavery was a major stumbling block to Israel's embracing Christ (even after His resurrection, his disciples still wondered when Christ would set up his earthly kingdom to ⁶free Israel from Rome's oppressive rule. They wanted physical deliverance, more than spiritual deliverance. But God had a better and more necessary plan. 

Paul uses the same truths revealed to Job to address national Israel's distrust and why God can and should be trusted. In doing so, Paul seeks to show how God - through Jobs' suffering and doubt then and in Israel's doubt and rejection of Christ at the time of his letter - is in total control and knows exactly what he was doing when it appears otherwise, i.e. we all are called to trust God when circumstances seem to say just the opposite i.e. that God cares about us, knows what He's doing even when there is *no relief from our pain. Our pain may actually be an indication that God is working most on our behalf.

If not for Job's suffering being recorded along with the key lessons Job learned, Paul would not have Job's example to point to when we (or Israel) wrestle with our own suffering and doubts about God. Observing Job's suffering (and ultimately his turning back to God in deeper trust) is for all our benefit, not just Job's. 

What are the key takeaways from Job that Paul summarizes at the end of Rom 11?

“For

* who (Job 15:8) has known the mind of the Lord, or

* who (Job 36:22-23) has been his counselor?” “Or

* who (Job 35:7; 41:11) has given a gift to God that he might be repaid?”

For from him, through him, and to him are all things (even the hard things). To him be glory forever. Amen. - Rom 11:34‭-‬36

The following are the passages from Job that Paul appears to be pointing back to by asking these 3 questions at the end of Romans 11 regarding God:

* "Have you listened in (on) the council of God? And do you limit wisdom to yourself?" - Job 15:8 i.e. is your wisdom true and the only wisdom there is? Who might have greater wisdom than you, only a mere creature? How about the all-wise, all-powerful, everywhere present Creator!?

* "Behold, God is exalted in his power; who is a teacher like him? Who has prescribed for him his way, or who can say, ‘You have done wrong’?"  - Job 36:22‭-‬23. God alone rightly determines what is good and evil because He alone created all things, knows all things, and sustains all things, including your very breath and existence. 

* "If you are righteous, what do you give to him? Or what does he receive from your hand? " - Job 35:7.‭ "Who has first given to me (God), that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine." - Job 41:11 ESV i.e. you can't give to me what I already have and rightfully own.

The answer to each rhetorical "who" Paul asks is no one except God, i.e., God is God and knows what is best, i.e., only He is all-wise. By definition, this is foundational to what it means to be God. He also doesn't owe Job - or you and I - anything, including an explanation of why He does what he does the way he does it (hence God never directly answers Job's most pressing questions). 

Through Job, God is telling us (and Paul is reminding Israel via Job) that only He is all-knowing, all-powerful, and perfectly just (righteous) in all He does. It was Job's, Israel's, and our own arrogance that demanded God tell him (us) more. 

To ask God why we suffer is completely legitimate. He invites us to pour out our cares to Him. But to demand an explanation is not. He does not hear our demands any more than he heard Job's or Israel's (give us a sign i.e. proof you are the Messiah) at the time of Christ. God tells us what we need to hear, not what we demand to hear - or think we should. Mere creatures can certainly ask God questions, but can not legitimately demand anything from the Creator. 

This is not the answer we want or ³like. It grates on us and exposes our deep-seated distrust of God and arrogant trust in our own understanding - wisdom - logic. It exposes how our primary objective is relief, not truth. 

For us to acknowledge the full extent of our distrust requires humility... not only for Job but for us as well. Job is simply a primary example and illustration of this fundamental problem we ⁴all have - a deep-seated,  ongoing, and arrogant distrust of the only true, infinite, and all-wise God. 

We think we know better than the all-wise, all-powerful, all-loving God regarding what is best for us. When we consider all it takes and means to be God, it exposes how absurd this notion is and how arrogant and rebellious we truly are.

This is a central issue - and truth - addressed not only in Job but throughout scripture. Job happens to be the most dramatic recorded example of this. 

We see this distrust at the very outset of humanity's existence with the first lie we bought into in Eden. The lie that we can be our own god - i.e. all-wise and no longer in need of the one true God. That we can determine what is right and wrong without God's input or direction. Exposing this arrogant distrust and calling us to turn from it is the key takeaway from the book of Job.

What about our suffering? How should we handle it?

Not only is it true that Job and all he suffered isn't just about Job. The lessons he learned aren't only for his benefit, but for all of ours. In Job, we observe our own struggles and doubts in suffering and the overall issue we all wrestle with...distrust.

What else can we learn from Job's example? 

As Job is an example to us of how to trust God in suffering, we are reminded that we too can be an example of humility and trust in God for others who observe us in our suffering, the same way we observed Job in his.

By observing how God addressed Job and how Job ultimately responded, we are given an example of humility and trust that we too, can be for others in the face of our own suffering. This may also be a primary reason any of us suffer i.e. for others to see how we trust God in spite of it. 

Those closest to us may tell us to curse God and die, as Job's wife did. But our trust in God says to others that God is life itself and more important than relief from suffering. 

Our trust and submission to God in our suffering says to them He is also worthy of their trust. It is a call to those who observe our trust in God during our greatest pain that they also can trust Him in their own suffering.

Do we whine and complain in our suffering or do we submit to God, thereby displaying to others God is worthy of our trust and therefore also worthy of theirs?   

God doesn't candy coat or hide Jobs' anguish and struggle but lays it out for everyone willing to see. In the end, after all of Job's complaining and questioning of God's fairness and justice, he shows how Job, to his credit, ultimately 

humbled himself before God and put his full trust in Him again. 

Job's trust in God made a major leap forward through his suffering, and because it was recorded, we were allowed to observe it and all Job went through to get there. 

Usually, we only see how our immediate, temporary, and personal suffering affects us (as I suspect Job did also), not how our faithful handling of suffering can be an example and potentially have a positive eternal effect on others. In our suffering, we have an opportunity to show how, ultimately, the best, wisest, and most perfect perspective belongs to God, not us. Therefore, He is worthy of our trust and worthy of yours also.

Through our suffering, we too can be an example for others (as Job is for us) on why they should also trust God. 

Our acting accordingly in our suffering can be a key example of trust for others to consider in the same way we do Jobs' example. Our suffering is an opportunity to show others that God is life Himself and trustworthy. Our trust is an encouragement and invitation for them to trust Him also. 

And Job illustrates this even more than any human (outside of Christ). Was this not also what Christ did? Is Job actually a picture of Christ in a most significant way?

Jesus Christ himself is the ultimate example of faithfulness in the face of the greatest suffering. 

Christ trusted the Father perfectly (even though he wrestled with the prospect of impending pain while in Gethsemane - "if possible take this cup from me" - and also on the cross - "why have you forsaken me"). And he did so as an example for us of perfect trust in the face of ultimate suffering far greater than anything Job, you, or I will ever go through. He did this to restore us to God, not just as an example of faith.

Christ is the ultimate ⁴example of trust in the face of overwhelming pain and suffering. In so doing, He invites us to trust His Father as He did, demonstrating the Father's trustworthiness.

Two potential effects Christ's suffering has on us.

*Humility - as we too come to trust God, as exemplified by Job and ultimately by Christ.

Or

*Anger, fear, anxiety - because Christ's example of complete trust rebukes us and exposes our distrust when we face our own suffering. When slapped in the face, Christ turned the other cheek, prayed for his enemies, and even asked the Father to forgive them for killing him in the most painful way. Christ trusted the Father when and where we do not. 

To realize all this can either be upsetting or humbling. It all comes down to what we believe and who we trust to best "have our backs," God or ourselves.

In addition to all this, Christ offers to legally assign His trust of the Father to us and gives us credit for it as if it was our own. If we accept His offer we are fully received and embraced by God and can now be treated by the Father as if we are perfectly trusting when we are still deeply distrusting.

For a discussion on why God allows evil and suffering to continue, click here.

For a discussion on how our suffering can aid us in seeing God's love better click here.
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¹At least our immediate pain. Christ took on the painful consequences of our rebellious distrust so that we ultimately will be delivered from it for all eternity. 

⁴Starting with Adam.

¹That's not to say Job didn't benefit from his suffering, but he was (and we are) never given a direct answer or explanation for why God allowed him to go through all he did (this article is an attempt to explain why). God exposes Job's distrust and how Job turned from it and back to God in the end. This is why addressing distrust appears to be the main point of the book. 

² Isn't the primary purpose of Job to illustrate the importance of faith when faced with the most difficult questions of life and possibly this very specific and difficult question of national Israel's falling away from their messiah? This would certainly explain why God never directly answers Jobs' questions. From the conclusion of the book, we get a clear indication God had other reasons for including it as part of His divinely inspired writ.

³No more than Israel liked hearing that Christ came to deliver them spiritually and not circumstantially i.e. physically or politically.

⁴and because of His trust in the face of the greatest suffering of any man, we are invited to come to him without hesitation when faced with our own suffering. 

⁵and why Job went through all he did i.e. the loss of everything of greatest earthly importance except his wife. And ironically the one person that we hope would be a support in our time of greatest need was just the opposite. She encouraged him to abandon God.

⁶The irony is that Christ did deliver Israel but from spiritual oppression, not circumstantial oppression. Because Israel was looking for the wrong kind of deliverance, they missed the most important kind of deliverance - i.e. the spiritual and eternal kind. A need they never recognized or acknowledged.   

⁷The primary point Paul was making in Romans 9 through 11 was God had not failed but in fact did bring deliverance not only to them but all nations through Israel by Christ their Messiah. Paul was explaining how the promised deliverance was spiritual. Which ultimately would result in His physical reign and deliverance for all who place their trust in Him - but not until eternity. Paul cites Job at the end of these three chapters to drive this home. 

The bottom line? God knows exactly what He's doing and always has. For us individually, for Israel, and for the world as a whole. His ways are higher (greater and wiser) than ours! He calls us through Job to trust Him in the same way Job finally did!

God is nonstop love, beauty and glory!

As the Father and Son behold the infinite beauty and glory of the other they experience infinite, overflowing joy, and delight in, by, and through the Spirit. 

Each is the very heart and center of the others affections. We could say each is the unceasing, passionate "heartbeat" and central ¹focus of the beauty of the other. The proverbial apple of each others eye, if you will.

They are passionately moved to extol or glorify the ¹¹other and lazer focused on doing so. 

They have always delighted in each ¹¹other from all eternity past and will continue for all eternity future with or without us.

By beholding and loving the glory of the other and experiencing love and delight in that beholding, each member of our ⁶three person God participates in and experiences their ⁶greatest joy and glory (worth, significance, etc). 

Joy, love, and delight are the fruit of their beholding the infinite glory and beauty of the ¹¹other. 

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

To behold the perfection of the ¹¹other evokes infinite admiration, joy, delight, and love for the other in, by, and through the Spirit. 

So what does any of this have to do with us?

God calling us to love Him and our neighbor is simply an extension and reflection of what God is like, i.e., this is who God is, and He calls us to reflect Him as bearers of His image.

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

Actually He is not just full but ⁹overflowing in infinite love. And this is because of the perfectly magnificent beauty, majesty, and infinite glory of each person within the Godhead. 

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

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

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

With all these aspects of God's being combined means each person within the Godhead is continuously giving and receiving perfect love from the other, who is equally perfect in beauty and love, yet also unique in function. 

Each loves perfectly and evokes in the other perfect love and delight because of their unique and perfect beauty and glory. They are all God together, not separately. For God to be God, they all must be together in a perfect union of beauty, harmony, and delight. 

The Father and Son are a union, community, and fellowship of nonstop love and motion in, by, and through the Spirit. An overflowing, infinite, perpetual self-sustained love ⁷generator, if you will, that never stops "running" because of the infinite beauty and worth they each possess individually. This dynamic has always been from all eternity past, before creation ever came into existence. 

What about created things and persons?

Creation is an outward manifestation of who God is as infinite and perpetual love/Spirit. God does not need creation. Creation needs God. Creation exists only because God exists as the God of love. If there were no God, there would be no love or creation. Nothing else would be.

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

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

To Him be the glory forever! Amen" - Rom 11:36

Because of this, God's love is other-oriented and focused, not self-focused. First between the Father, Son, and Spirit, but also out to others who are like him, i.e. us, who bear his image. 

In short, God is not selfish - as a community of 3, with each focused on the infinite beauty and glory of the other - but is full and overflowing. 

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

When a husband beholds the beauty (glory) of his wife and partakes of her love, and a wife partakes of and experiences the strength (glory) of her husband, it evokes within each a delight for the other. A delight so great that their union is like another person (as well as children who bear the image of the parents as well as God's image). They are no longer two separate individuals but a new and distinct union of love. 

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

In God, all these qualities are perfection - nothing can be added to or taken away from God for Him to be all that He already is. 

All of this is without end, i.e., we can never reach the full height, breadth, or depth of our experience of the infinite God...ever. 

Throughout eternity, we will increasingly experience and participate in more of our infinitely glorious and beautiful God. 

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

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

Everything else that is - other than God - is because of God. Nothing would be if He were not. 

The very existence of everything else is solely because of this dynamic, vibrant, nonstop overflowing God of love as Father and Son in, by, and through the Spirit. 

This is why He is always calling us to glorify Him. It's not because He needs us, but because we need Him to participate in all He created us to be and experience i.e., we are created to experience Him in the fullness of His beauty-glory by participating in the glory and union of the Father and Son in, by, and through the Spirit. We are designed to find our greatest glory and joy in experiencing His. 

His calling us to glorify Him is the most loving thing He can do for us - as well as the most honoring thing we can do for Himself. 

Our praises of him throughout eternity will be the spontaneous response to beholding him in all his majesty and glory. Just like the praises of the Father for the Son and the Son for the Father in, by, and through the Spirit. 

Life without God:

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

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

Like the Sea of Galilee, God's life is also dynamic, not static, because of the infinite beauty of the persons within the Godhead. Each is infinitely beautiful and glorious; each captures and delights the heart of the other and is captivated by the other's infinite value and beauty. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

For more on how God is relationship, click here.  

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

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

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

³I say capacity because to enter into this Union, we first must be restored to God through Christ due to our rebellious and ongoing distrust and alienation between God and us, created by that distrust. 

This alienation must be resolved and removed so we can be fully restored and reconnected to the Source of life and love. Once it is and we are reconciled and restored, we become the full and perfectly qualified recipients of God's unobstructed perfect love as we were designed to be. 

As we come to embrace and rest in His perfect nonstop love, we are increasingly able to partake of that love in the same way the Father, Son, and Spirit do. This goes to the next level when we are glorified with God in ever-increasing glory for all eternity.

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

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

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

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

This often includes tests and trials, pain and suffering...but not always or forever. All pain is temporary if we are plugged back into God through Christ. 

When we gain from the pain what we need to (i.e. a greater humility and dependence on God), we rise above that pain. The circumstances causing our pain is often still present but it's sting is removed because we receive it as it truly is - i.e. from the loving hand of God for our ¹⁰increasing union practically for our highest good and His greatest glory. Similar to the pain we experience in a workout. It hurts at the time but we know the outcome is good i.e. increased strength. To use a familiar expression, "no pain no gain." 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

¹⁰ vs legally, which is not changing but completed. Because of the work of Christ - and it being credited to us as a gift - we are seen by God as perfectly righteous. While at the same time we are becoming more righteous practically in our daily conduct, i.e. Our righteousness legally is complete while our righteousness practically is incomplete, ongoing, and increasing. Practical righteousness will not be completed but will continue until we are fully glorified in eternity.

¹¹Being other focused is central to who God is. This is only because God is 3 persons within one being. 

While God is only one being, the distinction of persons within the Trinity means God is other-focused versus self-centered. 

While one being consisting of 3 distinct persons is difficult to comprehend on one level, we see a picture of this in the family unit.

In a healthy marriage, each partner is focused on the other's benefit. The result of this loving union is children. When a married couple has a child, a primary part of their focus of care and affections is now on the child. While at the same time maintaining the main focus on their marriage partner i.e., each other. In order to be their best for the child, they must continue to be the best for each other first.

The analogy is limited and breaks down - i.e., it is not a perfect picture of our triune God - because the husband and wife are finite and must look outside themselves to participate in infinite love offered only by God, the Creator, who alone is infinite in love.

Does cryptocurrency have value?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What is fiat currency, and what is its value?

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

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

  

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

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

i.e. a debt instrument.  

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

For a discussion on what exactly is currency click here.

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

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

 

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

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

 

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

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