We have covered a lot of ground in the previous portions of this series, and some of the items have been quite hard to take. But there is always something beautiful about God that makes understanding Him very easy.
We have stated that He is very far above us, that He has the power to run millions of earths if He so chose to, that our actions do not derail or affect His being, and that His power is limitless. It would do us good to respect God for who He is and not what we make Him to be. But what is nice about Him being so large is that His attributes towards us are just as large.
He is indeed far above us, and we are indeed His creation. But there is one thing that constrains Him. There is one thing that holds Him. That thing is the Bible. His Word is magnified above His name. It, and It alone shows us God's true character; and His true character towards us is love. Romans 5:8; Psalm 117; Psalm 136; John 5:13; John 3:16 all speak of His limitless love for us. He proved it by creating us, He proved it by giving to us His image, He proved it to us by dying for us, and more importantly, He proved it by resurrecting Himself for us so that we all could be a part of that resurrection.
God's Word is the beginning and end of our faith. Without it, we are nothing. Without it, we are lost. Without it, we are void of understanding. It is our wisdom and our strength. And we wonder why people fight so vigorously over it. That does indeed make me laugh when people say that those debates are useless. Whatever side you are on, you should want the correct Bible. It is what should be guiding you through life.
So the series ends here with this. God is all powerful, all knowing, and is so far above us that we are unable to understand it; but more importantly to us, He is love. 1st John 4:8. God is love. That is the final answer to our question. Who is God? He is love to us.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
Who is God III cont.
The last post I asked a question regarding who God is. That question was how we related to God as far as sin is concerned. The reason I ask is that it is a great way to get an understanding of how we stand in the full scope of creation and God.
The simple answer so as not to belabor the point is that we have two ways to view God. He is either so close to us that sin affects Him greatly as a being or He is so far above that it does not affect Him at all.
Now it is easy to say that of course sin affects God. And this is true in that He sees His creation disobeying Him and choosing sin over Him, but it does not over power Him and He is not chased off by it. He is over it and all things that exist. Sometimes we begin to think that our sin is too much for Him or what we are involved in He cannot handle. The truth is that God is so far above it, the only reason He is involved is that He loves us.
I think we also begin to think that this earth consumes His power, meaning it takes all of it to manage us and the earth. He is not consumed by it. Infect, He is far from it. He could have an infinite number of earths and His power would hardly be touched. He is that big and that powerful.
This has many meaningful ramifications which we will discuss later on, but a passage that illustrates this quite well is Psalms 139. My favorite part is verse 6 where the psalmist says God's knowledge is too high and he cannot attain unto it. How perfect is that. I believe that we spend too much time trying to be God, acting as if we have His knowledge, instead of finding our place as His creation.
The simple answer so as not to belabor the point is that we have two ways to view God. He is either so close to us that sin affects Him greatly as a being or He is so far above that it does not affect Him at all.
Now it is easy to say that of course sin affects God. And this is true in that He sees His creation disobeying Him and choosing sin over Him, but it does not over power Him and He is not chased off by it. He is over it and all things that exist. Sometimes we begin to think that our sin is too much for Him or what we are involved in He cannot handle. The truth is that God is so far above it, the only reason He is involved is that He loves us.
I think we also begin to think that this earth consumes His power, meaning it takes all of it to manage us and the earth. He is not consumed by it. Infect, He is far from it. He could have an infinite number of earths and His power would hardly be touched. He is that big and that powerful.
This has many meaningful ramifications which we will discuss later on, but a passage that illustrates this quite well is Psalms 139. My favorite part is verse 6 where the psalmist says God's knowledge is too high and he cannot attain unto it. How perfect is that. I believe that we spend too much time trying to be God, acting as if we have His knowledge, instead of finding our place as His creation.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Who is God III
If you are following this post you are probably wondering where the love is. I encourage you to continue with this series because the love is there, but just as like every other type of love, it is much better enjoyed and understood with respect.
The third installment of our series on "Who is God," is on our relationship with God. No, I do not mean our devotion time or how close we are emotionally, but what is our relation to Him as creator and us as the created. We mentioned last article that we needed to grasp God as who He is. He is all powerful and is in complete control; yet somehow we still think we deserve something more than just being able to commune with Him.
I will pose a question and write more on this later because my time is slim. One of the best ways to view our relationship with God is to ask ourselves what affect our sin has on God. So, how does our sin affect God?
The third installment of our series on "Who is God," is on our relationship with God. No, I do not mean our devotion time or how close we are emotionally, but what is our relation to Him as creator and us as the created. We mentioned last article that we needed to grasp God as who He is. He is all powerful and is in complete control; yet somehow we still think we deserve something more than just being able to commune with Him.
I will pose a question and write more on this later because my time is slim. One of the best ways to view our relationship with God is to ask ourselves what affect our sin has on God. So, how does our sin affect God?
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Who is God II
Last article I presented the question, "Who is God?" We went through some of the most common answers and then the most fundamental one that matters the most: He is the Creator.
Without Him being the creator, whatever else we label Him is useless; thus, He has control over everything. This leads us into the second portion of "Who is God." You see, I think sometimes we begin to equal God with ourselves. We make our own rules, we make our own decisions, we don't even think of God as God, but some benevolent father figure that is there to hand us aid when we need it. This could not be farther from the truth.
These next few lines are going to be hard to read. Some will be angry at what I am saying, but it is not without a point. If you take us as His creation just as a clay cup could be ours, He does not have to let us have more control over our lives than He wants us to. He could keep us still, set us where ever He wants, or He could simply toss us against a wall and destroy us. We are His to do as He pleases.
Please, let us get away from this concept that we have rights or a say in the matter. I hear people all the time saying things like, "God wouldn't do that," or "If God did that, He is no God of mine." Your concept of God has little to do with the real God. We have such a ridiculous idea that we can define Him. The truth is, we can't.
Now I know that our God is defined to an extent by His Word, but His Word is the only way in which we can understand Him. Anything taken outside of the Bible about God, for the most part, is hearsay and useless. He does say that He loves us and give us free will so what I said above is a hyperbole, but the concept remains. We have to get past the idea that we deserve something from God. Like He is supposed to allow us to live a certain lifestyle or that He needs to make sure that we keep our huge home and cars. He has promised us two things in that area and they are food and clothes.
Furthermore, we also need to understand within understanding who God is, we have to have context. I have had amazing discussions with people about God, and I have no idea where they get their information or ideas. It's astounding. I finally ask them if this is the God of the Bible and they say yes, but that they can't accept certain parts of It. Let us, please, get this straight. Without the Bible, our definition of God is useless. It will be derived from TV, movies, and any other crazy source we here. The Bible is the beginning of our knowledge and It is the end. If you cannot accept a part of it, then you cannot accept all of it. This is not a mix and match. God is a God of fullness and completeness, not a God of what He can get.
We have trivialized God in our time. He is no more to us than an emotion and a song. At best He is a super-sized Santa. How can we ever have true faith if we never grasp who He is and His true power? We are soon to be devoid of all understanding of who we are in relation to our Creator. We cannot let that happen.
Without Him being the creator, whatever else we label Him is useless; thus, He has control over everything. This leads us into the second portion of "Who is God." You see, I think sometimes we begin to equal God with ourselves. We make our own rules, we make our own decisions, we don't even think of God as God, but some benevolent father figure that is there to hand us aid when we need it. This could not be farther from the truth.
These next few lines are going to be hard to read. Some will be angry at what I am saying, but it is not without a point. If you take us as His creation just as a clay cup could be ours, He does not have to let us have more control over our lives than He wants us to. He could keep us still, set us where ever He wants, or He could simply toss us against a wall and destroy us. We are His to do as He pleases.
Please, let us get away from this concept that we have rights or a say in the matter. I hear people all the time saying things like, "God wouldn't do that," or "If God did that, He is no God of mine." Your concept of God has little to do with the real God. We have such a ridiculous idea that we can define Him. The truth is, we can't.
Now I know that our God is defined to an extent by His Word, but His Word is the only way in which we can understand Him. Anything taken outside of the Bible about God, for the most part, is hearsay and useless. He does say that He loves us and give us free will so what I said above is a hyperbole, but the concept remains. We have to get past the idea that we deserve something from God. Like He is supposed to allow us to live a certain lifestyle or that He needs to make sure that we keep our huge home and cars. He has promised us two things in that area and they are food and clothes.
Furthermore, we also need to understand within understanding who God is, we have to have context. I have had amazing discussions with people about God, and I have no idea where they get their information or ideas. It's astounding. I finally ask them if this is the God of the Bible and they say yes, but that they can't accept certain parts of It. Let us, please, get this straight. Without the Bible, our definition of God is useless. It will be derived from TV, movies, and any other crazy source we here. The Bible is the beginning of our knowledge and It is the end. If you cannot accept a part of it, then you cannot accept all of it. This is not a mix and match. God is a God of fullness and completeness, not a God of what He can get.
We have trivialized God in our time. He is no more to us than an emotion and a song. At best He is a super-sized Santa. How can we ever have true faith if we never grasp who He is and His true power? We are soon to be devoid of all understanding of who we are in relation to our Creator. We cannot let that happen.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Who is God?
I am going to write on a very important subject, and I will be posting several articles of the same nature. These articles will hopefully assist us in understanding who God is instead of who we think He is. This of course is all based on Scripture. If you wish to venture outside of it, I cannot help you.
As the title asks, who is God? I would love to see some answers to this one, but odds are, you’re browsing through and don't intend on leaving any comments; thus, I will answer it for you.
Some would say, "He is the I Am of the Bible." Others would say, "He just is." Then come the torrent of descriptions. He is wonderful, powerful, awesome, etc. All these are true, but none of them matter if He is not what He is first.
He is the creator. First and foremost, He is the all mighty shaper of the universe. It does not matter who or what He is unless we have been created, and that is why creation is so important to us as believers. We try to blend it with science, but it does not work. God molded this universe with His hands. Nothing else helped or was a part.
The Bible says that it was 24 hour days that He used to create, and when He rested, He wasn't tired, but He rested His creative abilities. These things define our faith because if they did not happen, God is a liar and our faith is in vain. When we weaken or buckle on this subject, we hurt every part of our faith because without God the creator, nothing else matters
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Society
I was walking past a neighbor’s house the other day and I couldn't help but overhear their very loud conversation. The thing is, I had heard it somewhere before. Not the exact conversation, but something very familiar. Then it hit me. I heard it on TV. Some reality show that was playing in the background. I detest reality TV. But then it struck me. How far have we come from What God wants us to be?
We dislike home schooling because it leaves children socially "inept." We want our kids in public schools and in that we want them to be popular. We want them to know what is going on in the world of TV and gossip. We want them in the latest fashions to fit in. All dictated by TV, which to me is the new definition of "The world."
I am not against TV or movies, but we have turned our lives into TV dramas. Everywhere I look I see TV drama. People would not know how to act like they do if it were not for what they have seen. It is in the same light as the kids who go and attack schools. They see what is on TV and video games; thus, reality just seems to meld together with the fake world.
When the Bible says to be not like the world it doesn’t mean that you must shun everything the world has created that is either not Christian or created by a Christian: it means to not be a part of it all. Jesus spent lots of time with the people that lived in the world, but He did not participate.
It seems that's all we do. We either accept the sin or try to convert that sin to something more Christian. Why can't we just do what the Holy Ghost asks of us? Is it not ok for you to go to movies? Fine, but the Holy Ghost has not shared that same conviction. Want to be accepted and be just like everyone else who is defined by TV? Not fine. Emulating these people is being like the world.
How pathetic are we that we have to substitute fake lives in place of our own? We want happiness yet we reject God's Word, stating that it is bossy. Have we not yet realized that His Word was written so we could live the best lives possible? If we follow His Word, we will find joy. We have replaced the Bible with what the world says through the TV, radio, and movies. If that is not the definition of living in the world, I don’t know what is.
We dislike home schooling because it leaves children socially "inept." We want our kids in public schools and in that we want them to be popular. We want them to know what is going on in the world of TV and gossip. We want them in the latest fashions to fit in. All dictated by TV, which to me is the new definition of "The world."
I am not against TV or movies, but we have turned our lives into TV dramas. Everywhere I look I see TV drama. People would not know how to act like they do if it were not for what they have seen. It is in the same light as the kids who go and attack schools. They see what is on TV and video games; thus, reality just seems to meld together with the fake world.
When the Bible says to be not like the world it doesn’t mean that you must shun everything the world has created that is either not Christian or created by a Christian: it means to not be a part of it all. Jesus spent lots of time with the people that lived in the world, but He did not participate.
It seems that's all we do. We either accept the sin or try to convert that sin to something more Christian. Why can't we just do what the Holy Ghost asks of us? Is it not ok for you to go to movies? Fine, but the Holy Ghost has not shared that same conviction. Want to be accepted and be just like everyone else who is defined by TV? Not fine. Emulating these people is being like the world.
How pathetic are we that we have to substitute fake lives in place of our own? We want happiness yet we reject God's Word, stating that it is bossy. Have we not yet realized that His Word was written so we could live the best lives possible? If we follow His Word, we will find joy. We have replaced the Bible with what the world says through the TV, radio, and movies. If that is not the definition of living in the world, I don’t know what is.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Give Thanks That Your Sin is Not as Bad as Mine
I once new a man who worked for a Christian organization. He was a good man. He worked hard and dealt honestly with everyone he knew. I was not close to him, but I knew those that were.
One day, a horrible secret was discovered about this man. A secret he had been battling for many years. He had given it a valiant fight, but in the end, Satan won over and he was caught in a compromising situation.
If most of you heard what we heard, you would have thought him a terrible human, yet the opposite was true. He was simply a man fighting a battle we all fight.
There was another person I can think of in a similar situation. He was a younger man, but his situation was much more apparent. Nonetheless, he was ostracized because he acted differently and was even pushed out of churches.
The boy tried everything he could to find help. He went to a Christian college, he went to a pastor for mentoring since he never had a father figure to teach him how to be a man, and he tried to surround himself with those of a strong faith. Sadly, he was ignored and mocked because he never had an opportunity to be "normal," and eventually disappeared. That was over four years ago.
You know, we found people like this everywhere. Some end up being in gangs, others in orphanages, some on the streets, and others in strange, confusing sins. But what is even more sad is that we toss these poor souls out because their sin outweighs their worth to us.
One last person for me to describe. This man was different though. He was never caught, nor was he ever fired. His friends loved him and his family loved him even more. He wa an integral part of his church; he was even a deacon. So what was wrong with him you ask? He was so deep in sin if it were water, he would be crushed by its pressure before he drowned. Yet he found no judgment from others, only smiles. In fact, at one point he brought his sin to the pastor. He told him that he had a terrible covetous spirit, and the pastor prayed with him and sent him on his way with his blessing.
What is wrong here? We know that God views sin in different ways and in different manners, but they all lead to the same place. If we are not willing to help those that need our help, then how can we call ourselves Christians? Some of these people struggled for years with their burden, yet when they fall once we throw them out?
I am not saying make them the pastor, but how can we expect them to ever win over Satan if we just toss them out. I gave two real examples of people that could have been won, but we gave up on them, and if anyone, such as myself, tried to help, we were mocked along with those that needed the help.
Did not Christ say that He came not to condemn, but to seek and save that which is lost? These people are lost sheep. Why aren’t we helping them?
One day, a horrible secret was discovered about this man. A secret he had been battling for many years. He had given it a valiant fight, but in the end, Satan won over and he was caught in a compromising situation.
If most of you heard what we heard, you would have thought him a terrible human, yet the opposite was true. He was simply a man fighting a battle we all fight.
There was another person I can think of in a similar situation. He was a younger man, but his situation was much more apparent. Nonetheless, he was ostracized because he acted differently and was even pushed out of churches.
The boy tried everything he could to find help. He went to a Christian college, he went to a pastor for mentoring since he never had a father figure to teach him how to be a man, and he tried to surround himself with those of a strong faith. Sadly, he was ignored and mocked because he never had an opportunity to be "normal," and eventually disappeared. That was over four years ago.
You know, we found people like this everywhere. Some end up being in gangs, others in orphanages, some on the streets, and others in strange, confusing sins. But what is even more sad is that we toss these poor souls out because their sin outweighs their worth to us.
One last person for me to describe. This man was different though. He was never caught, nor was he ever fired. His friends loved him and his family loved him even more. He wa an integral part of his church; he was even a deacon. So what was wrong with him you ask? He was so deep in sin if it were water, he would be crushed by its pressure before he drowned. Yet he found no judgment from others, only smiles. In fact, at one point he brought his sin to the pastor. He told him that he had a terrible covetous spirit, and the pastor prayed with him and sent him on his way with his blessing.
What is wrong here? We know that God views sin in different ways and in different manners, but they all lead to the same place. If we are not willing to help those that need our help, then how can we call ourselves Christians? Some of these people struggled for years with their burden, yet when they fall once we throw them out?
I am not saying make them the pastor, but how can we expect them to ever win over Satan if we just toss them out. I gave two real examples of people that could have been won, but we gave up on them, and if anyone, such as myself, tried to help, we were mocked along with those that needed the help.
Did not Christ say that He came not to condemn, but to seek and save that which is lost? These people are lost sheep. Why aren’t we helping them?
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