Tilling and Planting

Tag: God The Father

  • Good Good Father

    Good Good Father

    Intro

    I’m sure many of you have heard the song Good Good Father by Chris Tomlin. The song does a good job capturing the heart of God as a loving Father. I’ve already briefly touched on God as Father in my post God the Father. I didn’t have time to go in depth on that, but now I’m ready to dive a little deeper into what it means for God to be our Father. In addition, I aim to hit upon another of His characteristics that I only briefly mentioned – His goodness. It’s hard to talk about God as Father without also talking about His goodness.

    Fatherhood

    The Bible refers to God as our father on a number of occasions. While the Old Testament tends to demonstrate the distance between man and God, there are still several references to God as the Father of the Jewish nation. For example, Isaiah 64:8 (NIV) says, “Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” The Israelites certainly had this understanding, but the relationship wasn’t intimate. To many of them, He was more of a distant Father. Someone you see or talk to occasionally and dare not disappoint or upset in any way. Someone you respected with fear and trembling.

    However, the distance between Israel and God was Israel’s doing. God had a more intimate view of their relationship. The first few verses of Hosea chapter 11 records God saying He “loved him [Israel] and out of Egypt I called my son”, “taught Ephraim to walk”, “healed them”, “led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love”, and He “bent down to feed them”. Jeremiah 31:9 (NIV) says, “I am Israel’s father, and Ephraim is my firstborn son.” God declared Himself to be Israel’s father – and a very loving father at that – even though Israel itself didn’t share the same view. Hosea 11 also notes how Israel kept going astray and didn’t acknowledge what God was doing in their midst. And yet God kept loving them. And that’s how God treats us as Christians. With perfect love.

    Abba Father

    And when Jesus came, He doubled down on God as father. He called God His Father on numerous occasions using the deeply intimate word “Abba” (Daddy). One such example is in Mark 14:36 (NIV), “‘Abba, Father,’ he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” In one of Jesus’ most difficult moments, He cries out to God with the most intimate word. But even when all was going well, Jesus used that same term. And taking it a step farther, Jesus taught His disciples to pray to God using the phrase “Our Father…”. I’m sure you are all now mentally reciting the Lord’s prayer. In addition, Jesus says multiple times throughout the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) the phrase “your Father” when referring to God. Clearly Jesus wanted us to understand and know God as our Father.

    And not just any father. A good father. Matthew 7:11, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (NIV). Matthew 6 gives two other examples about our “Father in heaven” caring about our basic needs – clothing and food. He tells us not be worried about those things because God will take care of us. And this is the perfect segway into the second half of this post.

    Goodness

    There’s a phrase I remember hearing as a kid and later as a young adult when I would go to Lifest, the MC of the festival (Peder Eide) would say “God is good” and wait for the crowed to respond, “All the time”, then “All the time”, “God is good.” Numerous songs talk about how good God is and people will say the phrase “God is good” over and over again.

    And yet, there are people who doubt that. Does the Bible really claim that God is good? Yes! I referenced the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus says that God will supply our needs and gives good gifts to His children. But even more than that, we find it all over the Psalms. Here are a couple of examples from the NIV: Psalm 34:8, “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” and Psalm 31:19, “I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”

    In addition to the Psalms, when King David appointed Levites to minister before the Ark, he gave them words to praise the Lord with. And the entire passage 1 Chronicles 16:8-36 is just praising the Lord for how good He is and how He is worthy of praise and is their deliverer, etc. The Israelites knew what it meant for God to be deliverer. Just read the account of the Exodus and the worship service that occurred after the crossing at the Red Sea. And as mentioned before, the Psalms are loaded with similar songs of praise to God for His goodness. Not just all the good things He has done for the people, but simply for His goodness.

    God’s Nature

    God doesn’t just do good deeds. Goodness is a part of the nature of God. God is good. It’s impossible for God to do anything evil. I do recognize that there is lots of evil in the world. But I also firmly believe that God did not, does not, and will not cause any of that evil. But there are many people who question the existence of evil, “If God is so good, why is there evil in the world?” And this is a good question that deserves a thorough answer. Which I cannot give here in this post. I plan on covering that question when I address the related question of evil and the sovereignty of God. As you’ll see there, the issues of God’s goodness, His sovereignty, and the existence of evil in the world, are all tightly related.

    Wrapping Up

    I sure hope and pray that you see how much God loves you as a good father loves his children. I know that earthly fathers disappoint us, and some are downright terrible to their children. My goal with this post was to encourage you that God isn’t and will never be that kind of father. He perfectly loves you and has been and always will be good to you.

    A Time to Remember

    Earlier in this post I mentioned Peder Eide, the MC of the Lifest Grandstand. As I was working on this post, I needed to confirm the spelling of Peder’s name and discovered that he passed away April 26, 2024 (this is a very good read on the kind of man Peder was – the image of him on stage is from Lifest). It’s a very sad thing to hear and Lifest will never be the same. Peder was fun to listen to as a MC, but he was also a musician. Two of his songs that I know are both songs that fit right in with this post’s twin themes of God’s goodness and His fatherhood: “Taste and See” (based on Psalm 34:8) and “Abba, I belong to You”. Because of that, I’m dedicating this post to Peder Eide, I know that you are in Heaven worshipping before Abba, Father God.

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!

  • Explaining The Trinity

    Explaining The Trinity

    Intro

    Welcome to the last post discussing the Trinity. Even though I’ve officially completed the Trinity Trilogy, explaining the Trinity warrants its own post. So, I’ll be doing my best to explain – or at least simplify – what the Trinity is and how it works. If you haven’t read any of the posts in the trilogy, catch up here: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

    What Is The Trinity?

    The Trinity, also known as the Godhead, is a concept that is difficult to explain and understand. Basically, God is a single God who exists as three persons – Father, Son (Jesus), and Holy Spirit. (Just writing “single” and “three persons” in the same sentence to describe the same noun makes the logical parts of me cringe.) These three persons are distinct yet are also each God. And the Bible demonstrates in many places just how distinct they are.

    Some examples, Jesus prays to Father God on a regular basis. God speaks affirmations over Jesus, declaring Him to be His son, on no fewer than 3 occasions (Jesus’ baptism, the transfiguration, and another time). And Jesus states that both He and Father God will send Holy Spirit and Jeus refers to Holy Spirit as “Him”. This makes it clear that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct persons. However, the Bible is also clear in referring to each of them as God. Jesus makes statements to be God (refer to my previous posts for examples) and one of the best passages that references Holy Spirit as God is in Acts 5. In this story, Peter accuses Ananias of lying to Holy Spirit and then a couple of sentences later, says that he lied to God. Clearly Peter understood Holy Spirit to be God and not just some impersonal “force”.

    All that said, many illustrations exist to try and explain – or simplify – the Trinity to make it easier to understand. I will be putting forth a handful that I have heard over the years. I leave it up to you to decide which one(s) make it easier for you to understand.

    Illustrations

    I have heard several illustrations trying to explain the Trinity from my many years of experience within the church. And this list I’m giving you probably isn’t all of them, just the ones I can remember. I will give a description of each one and how well I think it holds up to the truth. The litmus test for these will be how well the individual part can perform the job of the whole. Any member of the Godhead can perform everything that Bible says God can do. Each member is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and immutable. So for these examples, how well it holds up depends on how well the individual part can perform the job that you expect of the whole. If you have any additional ones that you like, let me know in the comments.

    The Tree

    One of the earliest illustrations I recall is the Tree. When you think of a tree, three pieces of one probably jump to your mind immediately: the leaves, the trunk, and the roots (branches as well, but I’m including that in the trunk for the sake of the illustration). These three primary parts of a tree are all distinct, but they make up a single tree. The problem here is that while each member of the Godhead is individually God, you can’t say the same about each of the three parts of the tree. The leaves can’t perform the job you expect the whole tree to do. The nicest part of this one is that it demonstrates an example of a triune God creating things with the number 3 (seriously, start examining everything God has created and you’ll be amazed at how many times the number 3 pops up).

    The Egg

    I only heard about the Egg illustration more recently. It’s one that my wife, Stacy, introduced me to. In this one, you’ve got the shell, the egg white, and the yolk. Again, they are all distinct pieces of the egg, yet it’s still a single egg. I like this one a bit better than the tree since unlike the tree, eggs really don’t have much more to them other than these three parts. It makes it easier to compare instead of nitpicking a tree apart and pointing out all the distinct parts of it. And similar to the tree, the egg is also an example of a triune God creating things with the number 3. However, the tree’s shortcoming is the same as the egg. You can’t point to the yolk and call it an egg. Without the other two parts, it’s not a complete egg.

    The Family

    Now we’re getting to my favorite illustrations. The Family unit is one of the better illustrations for the Trinity. In the Trinity you get Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In the family unit you get Father, Mother, and Children.

    Relationships

    As an aside, I am going to briefly mention the relationships within the Trinity. In the Bible we clearly see Jesus submitting to His Father’s will time and again. Jesus says He only does what He sees the Father doing (see John 5:19). Even though Jesus is God and is equal to God, He submits to Father God. With Holy Spirit, Jesus states that He and Father God have authority to send Holy Spirit. Furthermore, Jesus declares that Holy Spirit will glorify Him, Jesus, rather than glorifying Himself. This demonstrates a submission on the part of Holy Spirit to Jesus and to Father God.

    This relationship reflects the ideal family unit that God designed (and that sin destroyed). First, you got the father in the place of Father God. Second, you got the mother submitting to the spiritual leadership of her husband as Jesus submits to Father God (the Bible makes it clear that the wife submits to the husband, though it is also clear that the husband submits to his wife as well; but that is a whole other topic). And finally, you got the children as – pretty literally – coming from the parents. And the children are meant to submit (obey) to both father and mother (Ephesians 6:1-3 is perhaps my favorite passage about this). In addition, just as Holy Spirit glorifies Father and Son, so too are children meant to bring joy and honor to their parents (Proverbs 15:20).

    The family is great to describe the relationships within the Trinity. And again, one family, but three distinct parts.

    Still Falls Short

    Unfortunately, the family example still falls short. The problem again comes down to the inability of each individual to perform the role of the whole, i.e. Jesus can do all that Father God can do, but a child cannot do all that the father can do.

    The Human

    The illustration of mankind is probably one of the most powerful. God created humans with 3 very distinct parts that together make us “human”. As humans, we are spirit, soul, and body. 3 distinct pieces making up one human. As an added bonus, the soul is also made up of 3 pieces: mind, will, and emotions. I believe this is just one of the ways in which we are created in God’s image. The Godhead is a triune being. Humans are triune beings. And God created many triune examples in the world. A lot more than I’ve mentioned!

    As Romans 1:20 says, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” God put Himself into His creation in a myriad of different ways. And as humans, we are His crowning creation.

    Like the other ones, this one is also flawed. Separate the soul from the rest, and you get conscious mind with emotions and a drive, but no ability to do anything. The three parts of a human rely on each other too much to be a perfect representation of the Trinity.

    The Chord

    Of all the illustrations my personal favorite is the Chord. And of all the illustrations ever used, this one stands as probably the least flawed of them all. A triune chord – a chord made up of three distinct notes – has great advantages over the other illustrations. The three distinct sounds work together to make one beautiful sound all the while remaining distinct. Each note can work on its own to perform the job of filling up the space it’s in with sound (just like each member of the Trinity can perform all the functions of a deity). And together, they work in harmony to create something even more beautiful.

    The three notes of a triune chord are separate and distinct yet together they make up a single chord. Each note is a sound. They don’t all sound quite the same and when combined, they create yet another sound. But they retain their own unique sound. And this is why I think this is the best illustration.

    Wrapping Up

    Ultimately, understanding the Trinity will never fully happen on this side of eternity. Our finite minds just can’t fully comprehend an infinite God. And understanding the Godhead isn’t required for salvation (phew!). Still though, it’s important to have some grasp on this topic – if only to be able to have a better answer for someone else other than “I have no idea”.

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!

  • Trinity Trilogy – God The Father

    Trinity Trilogy – God The Father

    Intro

    Welcome to The Trinity Trilogy. In this series, I aim to discuss who each person of the Trinity is in three separate posts – one per member. I can only do so much in a single blog post per member of the Godhead, so none of them will be comprehensive. As an aside, I recognize that the concept of the Trinity is deserving of its own post and will explore that after the trilogy. But for this first post of the trilogy, I will be examining the first member of the Trinity, God the Father.

    Who is God?

    Asking the question “Who is God?” will get you a myriad of answers. It’s not easy to explain who He is, not when He is beyond our comprehension – existing outside of time and space will do that. But I am going to do my best to lay out a few of the most pertinent attributes of God in this post.

    God is Creator

    One of the most important attributes of God, is that God is the creator of the universe. The universe did not come into existence accidentally, planets did not randomly form, and plants, animals, and humans did not evolve from simpler live forms. Genesis chapters 1-2 make it clear that God created everything – the stars, the Earth, the plants, animals, and mankind. If we ignore this important part of who God is, then we might as well forget about the rest. If God didn’t create everything as Genesis states, then we can’t trust the rest of the Bible and we should find a different religion.

    Why would I say something that strongly? Simple. 2 Timothy 3:16 (NIV) says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” Since Genesis is a part of Scripture, it was God-breathed. In other words, God inspired the words that were written down. So, if God did not in fact create the universe in the manner that Genesis describes, that would either make God a liar or non-existent. In either case, the Bible would no longer be trustworthy. Which makes Christianity a worthless religion.

    So, assuming the Bible is trustworthy, is Genesis the only Biblical reference to God being the creator? Nope. To list just a couple: Revelation 4:11 (NIV) states, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” and Psalm 139:13-14 (NIV) declares, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Doing an internet search will yield many more.

    Shameless Plugs (Gasp!)

    I don’t have the time or space to go over the massive amount of evidence that exists to support the creation of the universe by God, and I encourage you to do your own research. A couple of fantastic documentaries I encourage you to check out are Is Genesis History? and TrueU (Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with the creators nor am I going to get paid if you visit these sites and buy anything. I am also not responsible for the amount of time and money you put into those).

    God is Good

    “The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.” Psalm 145:9 (NIV). The Lord is a good God. The Bible states that there is no darkness in Him. He is pure light and love. Our God is a God we can trust to give us good gifts. Many of the polytheistic religions of the ancient world had gods that would punish people for seemingly no reason. In those days, people trembled in fear of displeasing them and would assume that whenever something went wrong in their lives, it was a punishment from one of their gods. The Lord, Jehovah, is not like that. We do not have to be afraid of Him. For He loves us with an everlasting love.

    If you’re looking for verses about how good God is, the Psalms are a fantastic place to start. I opened this section with a Psalm and here’s another one: Psalm 145:7 (NIV) “They celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.” But don’t worry, for those of you who prefer diversity, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” 1 Chronicles 16:34 (NIV). And for those who live in the New Testament more often, “No one is good – except God alone.” Mark 10:18b (NIV).

    Similar to the last section, I could go on with the number of verses that talk about God’s goodness. Instead, I will make brief mention about the importance of God’s goodness. God’s goodness is the reason we have the option of salvation and having a relationship with the creator of the universe. It’s because of that goodness that humanity is still around – instead of being wiped out and replaced. Without His goodness, we would have legitimate reason to be worried about the future.

    God is Sovereign

    “The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.” Psalm 103:19 (NIV). God created the universe. And He continues to rule it. The Lord sits on His throne above the universe and there is none like Him and none who can challenge Him. “All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’” Daniel 4:35 (NIV). The Bible is clear that God reigns and can do whatever He wants, when He wants. It’s impossible to challenge His sovereignty.

    Now, the sovereignty of God leaves many people confused. People question how a good God, if He is truly sovereign, could allow evil in the world. And the main reason I think people question this is because they don’t have a solid understanding of what sovereignty is. To put it simply, sovereignty does not mean that everything that God desires to happen will happen. The Bible states that God desires “everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9 NIV) yet this isn’t happening. People die every day without repenting. What His sovereignty does mean is that, regardless of what happens, His plans will ultimately come to pass (see Isaiah 46:9-10).

    A quick analogy, the monarchs of old Europe were sovereign over their kingdoms. But not all their subjects obeyed the laws or did what the monarch would’ve like them to. Criminals ran around doing as they pleased disregarding what the king desired. It’s the same with God and our world. God is sovereign over all, but not everyone chooses to live their lives by His standards or do what He desires them to.

    God is Father

    The Almighty, holy, all-powerful God chooses to relate to us as a Father does to his children. However, He is the perfect father as no earthly father can be. James 1:17 (NIV), “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” What’s great about this verse is that it demonstrates a couple different attributes. It serves as a reminder that God gives good and perfect gifts – this relates to the earlier point of God is Good. And it also shows us that God is a Father. However, it doesn’t state that He is our father. But that’s okay! You can find other verses that state that more clearly. Such as “Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” (Isaiah 64:8, NIV).

    Some might say that the previous verse is from Isaiah and referencing the Jewish people. And that’s true. However, as Christians (even us Gentiles), we are grafted in (Romans 11:11-24), so this verse applies to us as well. But if you need further evidence that God is our Father, look at Ephesians 4:6, “One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (NIV, emphasis mine). God is everyone’s Father. And He loves us as His dear children.

    ‘Father’ is not a Trivial Aspect of God

    This is a very important part of God. He dearly loves us and wants the absolute best for us. So much so, that He gave His only Son up to death in order to have a relationship with us. So, we could spend eternity with Him (see John 3:16). This means that we can trust Him to give us good things and to do right by us. Matthew 7:11 (NIV) states, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!” His loving Fatherhood coupled with His goodness means that we don’t have to worry about receiving bad things from Him, e.g. sickness, injury, identity theft, bankruptcy, etc. These things are a result of living in a fallen world with a real enemy looking to destroy our lives.

    God’s gifts to His children are more along the lines of Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control. In addition to these (called the Fruit of the Spirit), He gives a variety of Spiritual gifts that He calls us to use to minister to others – both within the church and outside the church. Only a good and loving Father would do that.

    Wrapping Up

    As stated at the beginning, this isn’t comprehensive by any means. The vastness of who God is can’t be measured in one post. The Trinity Trilogy merely plants the seeds for those who are seeking. And to water and nurture the seeds for others who are more mature. If this stirs you to dig deeper into the Word of God or gives you greater confidence in who God is, then I have done my job (Did you like the plant metaphors? There’s a reason I called the blog Tilling and Planting).

    Well, that’s all for this post. Join me next time for part two of The Trinity Trilogy – God The Son.

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!