Tilling and Planting

Tag: God’s Nature

  • Infinite God

    Infinite God

    Intro

    When you think of the word “infinite” what comes to mind? Outer space? The number system? An attribute of God? All too often we as Christians put God in a box. We try to put limitations on Him and then wonder why He doesn’t move in our lives. Some of us have grown up being told that God is infinite, but then being told that He doesn’t do certain things. So let’s get back to the basics. Our God is infinite. In an infinite amount of ways. And I wish to highlight some of the big ones that I know we’ve all heard. As has been the point of this entire blog, I want to go back to the basics. The simple truth of the Word of God and break it down to its core elements. So that we might have understanding and faith in it once again.

    So what are those “big” infinite attributes I wish to highlight? Ever hear these words: Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient, and Immutable? These are the ones I wish to highlight today (plus another one, but you’ll have to keep on reading to discover what it is).

    Omnipotent

    When I start talking about an infinite God, I think this is the attribute that comes to mind quickest. Omnipotent means “All-Powerful”. It means that God has the power to do whatever He wants. He created the entire universe with just His voice.

    By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. Psalm 33:6 (NIV)

    Some other examples of God’s omnipotence include: parting the Red Sea so Israel could walk across dry ground, giving a 100 year old man and 90 year old barren woman a son, making the sun stand still (which technically was making the earth stop rotating, but semantics), sending a global flood to wipe out everything on the earth (except those on the ark), becoming a man through a virgin birth, performing a crazy number of miracles as a man, and the list goes on. Seriously, just read through the Bible and you’ll be amazed at the number of miracles that God did. And He still does them today! All throughout history and up until the current day, there are testimonies of what God has done in people’s lives. I’ve heard some and know people who have encountered the unexplainable. Unexplainable, that is, except by an omnipotent God.

    Omnipresent

    To be omnipresent is to be everywhere all at once. The infinite presence of God is another attribute of His that readily comes to people’s minds. And the Bible makes this pretty clear.

    Because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5b (NIV)

    And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Matthew 28:20b (NIV)

    These are just two places – and the Hebrews is a quote from Deuteronomy 31:6. Doing a quick search online, there are at least 100 different verses that tell us that God is with us. Think about that for a moment, the minimum number of times the Bible states this is 100. More likely the number is higher than that, but I’m not going to try and count them all. For me personally, this has been one of my favorite attributes. One of the first times I clearly heard God was when I was going through something painful and I asked, “God where are you? Do you see me?” And He clearly spoke to me and said, “Yes”. God’s infinite presence highlights something else about God that is infinite. His love. God’s love is without limit. And His omnipresence proves that. If He didn’t love us, why stay with us?

    Omniscient

    To be omniscient is to be all-knowing. God knows literally everything. You can’t hide anything from Him. Every star that goes nova, every drop of rain that falls, every tear a person cries, every bacteria that divides to reproduce, etc. God knows it all. The Bible says that God calls each star by name and knows the number of hairs on your head. And it gets crazier. Because to be omniscient also means knowing everything from beginning to the end. God’s memory isn’t just remembering everything that has happened in the past, it’s also knowing about everything before it even happens. This breaks my brain a bit. The Bible says before the foundations of the earth were put into place, He planned to send Jesus to the cross (see 1 Peter 1:18-20).

    This one is hard to comprehend. God knew before He created anything that mankind would sin and reject Him and He would have to send His Son to die a horrible death (see my post here about how bad it was) to redeem us. And He still did it! Why? Refer back to my comment about God’s infinite love. And this also goes along with Him giving us free will, so we can choose to love and serve Him. God wants us to choose. Because of His omniscience, God knew all possible outcomes depending how He chose to create everything. Free will? Rebellion, suffering, and redemption. No free will? I don’t even know what would have actually come out of that. But I can promise you there wouldn’t be any sin, suffering, or death! If there still was, God would not be the good God the Bible says He is.

    Immutable

    Immutability is actually a little less known than the prior three. The definition of immutable is “unchanging”. To put it into terms of God, God stays infinitely the same. As He was in the past, so shall He be in the future. God will never diverge from what His Word says about Him. This is comforting to know because if we’re seeking direction from God and we hear something, sometimes we wonder “Is this God, the devil, or me?” And one of the first things we can ask is “Does this line up with the Bible?” “Is it consistent with what the Bible says about God?” If not, then discard it because God will never change. The Bible clearly states this in a few different places.

    Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8 (NIV)

    I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Malachi 3:6 (NIV)

    The one from Malachi hints at another part of God’s immutability. When God makes a promise, He keeps it. No matter how long it takes, He will fulfill it. He is faithful even when we aren’t. Israel kept turning its back on God and rebelling against Him. But because of His covenant, God did not destroy them. Because He is immutable. Another verse that highlights God’s immutability is found in Psalm 102. And with this one, I’m going to transition to the final infinite attribute of God that I wish to highlight – since Psalm 102 also highlights it.

    But you remain the same, and your years will never end. Psalm 102:27 (NIV)

    Eternal

    The final (and bonus!) attribute is God is eternal. He has no beginning and He will have no end. Revelation contains a popular verse about this.

    I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Revelation 22:13 (NIV)

    But there are many others. Another common one to quote for God’s eternal nature is found in Psalm 90.

    Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. Psalm 90:2 (NIV)

    I wish to highlight the phrase “from everlasting to everlasting you are God”. What does that mean exactly? It simply means what I already said, God had no beginning – from eternity past He existed – and God will have no end – He will continue to exist for eternity future.

    This is another one that kinda breaks the brain. To be sure, most of us can grasp the concept of having no end. Okay, something or someone just never dies or ceases to exist. I can get behind that. After all the Bible makes it clear that my spirit will continue to exist for all of eternity. And while it’s hard to imagine what I’ll be doing for all of eternity, I can at least grasp the concept. Grasping the idea of having no beginning is where I trip up. Bound in a world where time exists and everything around us has a beginning makes it difficult to imagine anything without one. This mindset begs the question “Where did God come from?” I’ve heard entertaining stories of children asking that question and the parents trying to explain a concept they don’t fully understand to a 4 year old.

    Wrapping Up

    So to wrap up, what does this all mean? Why talk about it at all? By knowing and understanding this, you and I can trust God with our problems. We can trust that He knows (Omniscient) what we are going through, that He is with us in the storm (Omnipresent), that He has the power to calm that storm (Omnipotent), and that He will come through when He says that He will help us (Immutable) because having been around for a while (Eternal) He is a stable God and a firm foundation upon which to build our lives. So cast your cares upon Him today and trust Him to come through for us when we need Him.

    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!

  • The Shepherd

    The Shepherd

    Intro

    Jesus refers to Himself as The Shepherd. Even more specifically, the Good Shepherd. What exactly does Jesus mean by this? In what ways is Jesus like a shepherd. And how are we, His followers, like sheep?

    Sheep

    To understand why Jesus likens Himself to a shepherd and us to sheep, it would help to get an understanding of what sheep are like. Here’s a handful of characteristics of sheep that as humans, we tend to resemble. Disclaimer: I found the original list here. Credit where credit is due.

    No Sense of Direction

    Sheep are notorious for wandering. Without a shepherd to guide them, the sheep will get hopelessly lost. They’ll likely go wherever the sheep ahead of them goes. If a couple of sheep wander off a cliff, the rest of the flock will probably follow. Stories of sheep doing exactly that are well documented. Here’s one such story.

    Hundreds of sheep followed their leader off a cliff in eastern Turkey, plunging to their deaths this week while shepherds looked on in dismay. Four hundred sheep fell 15 metres to their deaths in a ravine in Van province near Iran but broke the fall of another 1,100 animals who survived. Shepherds from a nearby village neglected the flock while eating breakfast, leaving the sheep to roam free. The loss to local farmers was estimated at $74,000.

    Sounds pretty dumb, right? But let’s be honest. How many people do something, follow some fad, some star just because “it’s cool.” So many people go along with the crowd because they want to be “in.” We don’t always think about the consequences. We just want people to accept us – even if it means doing dumb (or dangerous) things.

    Defenseless

    When you think about an animal who’s great at defending themselves, sheep are probably not the first one that comes to mind. Frankly, they’re terrible at it. Apart from ewes kicking when protecting their young or the fact that when frightened, the whole flock tends to run together (safety in numbers), they can’t defend themselves very well. That’s where the shepherd comes in. They defend the sheep against predators and their own stupidity.

    Similarly, we can run and maybe kick a little against small things, but when it comes to needing protection against the bigger enemies, we desperately need God’s divine protection. Without that, we will fall prey to Sin and Satan over and over again with no hope.

    Can’t Get Up

    I remember watching the VeggieTales adaptation of David and Goliath (Dave and the Giant Pickle) and thinking that the portrayal of sheep falling over and needing help to get back up was just a fun thing the creators put in. After all, there’s no way that there’s an animal incapable of standing back up when it falls over, right? Apparently, there is, it’s called a sheep. When sheep tip over (particularly on their backs), they are physically unable to stand back up. They require assistance from the shepherd to get back on their feet.

    How many times have we fallen in life and would have fizzled out or even died (whether self-inflicted or not) if we didn’t get help from God?

    Emotional and Recognizes Voices

    On a brighter note, sheep have an amazing ability to recognize the voice of the shepherd who cares for them. If a stranger’s voice tries to command them, they will more than likely run away in fear. They know who’s voice they are safe listening to. In addition, sheep are emotional creatures. They build friendships with other sheep and will even stick up for those friends in a fight. They can become anxious or distressed, and they feel sadness when a fellow sheep dies or is lost.

    I don’t think I need to explain the parallels to humans with this one. For we have all felt anxious or distressed at times and most (if not all) of us have felt the pain of a loved one passing away. We long for companionship and connection to fellow humans. And we learn from an early age, the voices of our parents. When strangers try to tell us to do something, we tend to question if we need to listen.

    Can’t Carry Burdens

    If there’s one thing that sheep were not made for, it’s carrying heavy loads. You will never see a sheep as a pack animal. They will be quickly crushed by such a burden. Similarly, God did not mean for us to carry the burdens of life like we do so often. God created us to be dependent on Him, and to give our burdens and trials of life to Him. We can’t carry it all on our own. We were never meant to.

    Settles For Less

    Sheep generally don’t know what’s good for them. If they see a dirty puddle, they’ll stop and drink from it – even though there might be clean water just a few feet away. As long as it satisfies in the moment, sheep just don’t care. Shepherds help the sheep find what’s good for them. And sadly, we are like that all too often. Rather than going after the good things of God, we settle for the things of this world which do not satisfy.

    Valuable

    Another point in favor of sheep is that they were quite valuable back in ancient times – and still are in different parts of the world. Owning large flocks of sheep indicated that one had wealth and influence. God declares us to be His special possession (1 Peter 2:9). God values humans above everything else in all of creation (Matthew 10:29-31).

    Can’t Care for Their Wounds

    Many animals lick their wounds until they heal. But not sheep. Sheep can’t do anything to help their wounds. Without treatment, sheep might die of easily treatable wounds. Shepherds are essential to the treatment of wounds. While we treat our physical wounds very well, we have no ability to treat our spiritual wounds on our own. We need help.

    Innocent

    Lastly, sheep are often associated with innocence and purity. How could you look at a sheep and blame it for anything worse than wandering away from the flock and getting lost? God calls us to be innocent and pure like sheep. Though that’s not possible without His sacrifice on the cross. Jesus washed away our sins and made us spotless as a sheep’s wool. Innocent in His sight.

    Jesus as The Good Shepherd

    Knowing now the nature of sheep, it doesn’t take much to understand the importance of a shepherd. And in John 10:11, Jesus declares himself to be the Good Shepherd. So, now I’ll describe how Jesus fits into that role of a shepherd. I’ll reference back to the list of sheep characteristics and show how Jesus fulfills these.

    Valuable, Innocent, Healed

    I’ve already mentioned how much God values us – similar to how valuable sheep have been. And I’ve also mentioned that through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, we are innocent and pure in God’s sight. And going along with that, the cross and resurrection provides the means through which God heals our spiritual wounds – much like the shepherd must care for the sheep’s wounds. Romans 6:8,11 (NIV), “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him…In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Through Jesus, God made us alive spiritually – totally healed.

    Guidance, Settling

    A shepherd leads his flock of sheep from one place to another. And he always leads them to the best pastures and waters he can find. He ensures that his flock will have everything they need and not settle for less. Psalm 23 is a fantastic passage to describe God leading us as a shepherd does his flock. “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:1-4, NIV).

    Falling, Carrying Burdens

    I briefly asked how many times we might have fizzled out in life if God hadn’t been there to pick us up. To put a verse to this: Psalm 145:14 (NIV), “The Lord upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.” When times are tough, God will be there always to lift us up. And furthermore, Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV) says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Jesus carries the burdens we cannot carry on our own. He invites us to come to Him and learn from Him, because His burden is light, and it’s light because He carries it with us.

    Defenseless

    A lot of people might get offended to think that we are defenseless like sheep. And in the physical world, I can’t argue that we will defend ourselves in a variety of ways. However, in the spiritual world, we got nothing. Our only defense against the powers of Satan and our own temptations comes from God. Only through Holy Spirit living in us and enabling us to we have any sort of defense against the dark powers that operate in this world. “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” Ephesians 6:11 (NIV). This verse makes it clear that we need God to stand against the devil. We can’t do it on our own.

    Hearing His Voice

    Jesus states in John 10 that sheep recognize the voice of their shepherd and He further states that His sheep know Him and know His voice (verses 3-4,14-16). A lot of people (myself included) struggle with this idea of hearing God’s voice. We wonder if we are hearing His voice or if it’s our own thoughts or if it’s the enemy trying to trick us. There is a process of learning to recognize God’s still small voice. It comes through spending time with God in prayer, worship, and reading of the Word. Simply knowing His word helps to prevent us from being deceived by other voices. After all, the Bible is the chief way by which He speaks to us.

    Wrapping Up

    Comparing people to sheep may not be the most flattering thing but praise be to God that we have a Good Shepherd to take care of us! I hope this instills more confidence, hope, and peace in your life.

    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!

  • God’s Sovereignty

    God’s Sovereignty

    Intro

    God’s sovereignty is undisputed amongst Christians. However, what they do dispute about is how that sovereignty translates to the world we live in. In other words, how much of what we see in the world (the good and the bad) is a part of God’s will to happen? And how much is because we have free will? I only briefly mentioned God’s sovereignty in my post about God the Father and I aim to expand upon that today. In addition, I actually can’t fully talk about sovereignty without comparing it to God’s goodness, which I’ve already established in both the Trinity Trilogy post and my last one, Good Good Father.

    Good Vs Sovereign

    Admit it, you weren’t expecting that as a heading. It’s Good vs Evil right? In this case, when people ask the question “If there is truly a good and loving God, why is there evil in the world?”, they are questioning God’s sovereignty. Therefore, when talking about His sovereignty, I need to balance it out with His goodness. And believe it or not, the truth is simpler than people make it out to be. And it’s easier to figure out than people realize as well. When I first heard what I’m about to tell you, I was blown away by its simplicity. And it brought a greater measure of peace and confidence in my life. Enough teasing let’s get started.

    Simple Vs Complicated

    As I mentioned, I need to balance out God’s sovereignty with His goodness. Putting these two together is the only way to make sense of how God’s sovereignty works in the world and can explain why evil exists. And when performing this balancing act, I also need to introduce two other factors: simple vs complicated. You see, when people try to explain evil in the world in light of God’s goodness and sovereignty, they also (often unknowingly) describe one or both of these attributes as simple or complicated.

    After defining these, I am going to mix and match them to get four types of worlds that we could be living in based on God’s goodness vs sovereignty. I’ll describe these four worlds and then use what the Bible says about God and the world as well as real-life experience to determine which of the four worlds we live in. Let’s get started.

    Simple Goodness

    When I say God’s goodness is simple, I’m saying that God wants only good all the time. He will never want nor use evil to get good. He will not use an “Ends justifies the means” approach to how He operates in the world.

    Complicated Goodness

    To put this simply, a complicated goodness means God ultimately wants good things and will always circle back to good but might trudge through some evil to get there. In this world, God might reach inside my body and mess with it to ensure I end up with some disease just so He could do something in my life that is good.

    Simple Sovereignty

    This is also pretty simple to define, it means God’s will occurs all the time. Everything that happens is from God and is His will. Literally nothing happens in the world that God did not plan out and say, “I want this to happen.”

    Complicated Sovereignty

    With a complicated sovereignty, God is supreme, but His will won’t always occur. Instead, He is working to establish His will in our world. I teased this concept in a previous post with an analogy, I’ll repost it here to refresh your memory (or introduce for the first time if you haven’t read that post).

    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.

    Four Worlds

    Now that I’ve defined each of these terms, I’m going to mix and match to get the four worlds I mentioned earlier. Each world will have a basic list of attributes that would be true of that world.

    Simple G.Complicated G.
    Simple S.Cosmic Utopia
    -Perfection.
    -No sickness, death, crimes, etc.
    -No free will.    		Cosmic Blueprint
    -Two nations fighting, God is playing both sides. That means only one will, one rule, and one kingdom.
    -Satan and demons are puppets of God.
    -No free will.
    Complicated S.Cosmic Battle
    -God is good all the time.
    -Two kingdoms, two wills fighting.
    -Free will plays a role.    		Cosmic Mystery
    -No clue what is and is not of God.
    -God is unknowable.
    -There is no anchor point to know God.
    -Free will plays a role.

    Let’s go through each of these and see what works and what doesn’t based on the Bible and reality.

    Cosmic Utopia

    I’m going to say little to nothing about this one because it’s so obviously not what we see in the world and the Bible is all about how broken man and the world are and how God is working to restore everything. So, it’s pretty safe to say that God’s goodness and His sovereignty can’t both be simple.

    Cosmic Mystery

    I know, I’m not going in order, but I want to show both ends of the extreme since there are rare times when an extreme is the truth in life. With Cosmic Mystery, we can’t just look at the world and say if it is reality like we could with Cosmic Utopia. However, when we read the Bible, we can. The Bible is very clear that we can know God. Jesus is the anchor point for knowing God. John 14:9 (NIV), “Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?””

    The Bible also repeatedly calls us to grow in our knowledge of God. How can we if He is unknowable? Given that, I can confidently say that God’s goodness and sovereignty also cannot both be complicated.

    Cosmic Blueprint

    Ever hear the phrase “God works in mysterious ways”? Or “Everything happens for a reason”? Both of these are great descriptions of this world, the Cosmic Blueprint. In this world, God’s goodness is complicated, while His sovereignty is simple. So, everything that happens is in God’s will and He is willing to use evil to ultimately accomplish good in the lives of people. As humans, we have no free will, no choice. God determines all our choices for us. Satan and his horde are mere puppets. Unable to do anything without God’s permission.

    I see multiple problems here. First, the Bible puts blame on Satan for various things such as deceiving Eve (2 Corinthians 11:3), being a murderer and a liar (John 8:44) and snatching the truth from people’s hearts (Matthew 13:19). Expanding on that, Revelation 20 describes the punishment Satan will receive for his deeds. But if Satan can’t do anything without God’s permission, then everything Satan has ever done and will do are basically his marching orders. And that means that the Bible is unjustly blaming Satan and using Him as a scapegoat.

    Secondly, the Bible is also clear that as humans we make pretty rotten choices. The entire book of Judges is all about Israel rejecting God, getting punished, crying out to Him for help, and God sending someone to rescue them. Again, Israel would be unjustly punished if they didn’t have free will. Without free will, we are a bunch of fleshy robots only able to do what we are programmed to do. In this world, God is playing a one-player game. And He controls everything in it.

    So based on this, there’s no way that the correct combo is Simple Sovereignty with Complicated Goodness. This leaves one more.

    Cosmic Battle

    The final one is the combination of Simple Goodness and Complicated Sovereignty. I already gave an example of old Europe for how sovereignty doesn’t immediately equate to everything happening in accordance with the will of the sovereign. In addition, the New Testament uses multi-kingdom analogies all over. We see phrases such as “Kingdom of God”, “Kingdom of Light”, “Kingdom of Darkness”, etc. Revelation talks about a war between Satan and his angels against Micheal and his angels. And Ephesians chapter 6 is all about preparing to go to war against Satan.

    And to demonstrate from the Bible the simple goodness of God, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17 and “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” 1 John 1:5 (NIV). Furthermore, Jesus says that He came that “they may have life” while it is the thief that “comes to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). And since Jesus is the anchor point for knowing God, we can be confident that this applies to God as well.

    In this world, even though God doesn’t cause evil in order to bring good, He most certainly takes the evil and turns it around to bring something good from it.

    What’s Left

    It’s pretty clear to me that the Bible points to Simple Goodness and Complicated Sovereignty. Now, this actually doesn’t answer all the questions. For example, what about the Old Testament with all of the punishments attributed to God? Wouldn’t that point to a complicated goodness? Not necessarily. In short, God established a covenant with Israel that said “If you obey me and follow me, I will give you blessings. If you turn your back on me, I will punish you.” So, God promised to punish the people should they turn their back on God. And God always keeps His promises (an attribute closely related to His goodness). Granted, it is still a little confusing and deserves its own future post.

    One final thing I’d like to say about how God’s kingdom operates. God chooses to limit Himself and work through people and angels to accomplish His will. Could God just snap His fingers and get it all done? Yep. But He doesn’t. He chooses to use finite beings who screw up to get things done. Why? Because He wants us to choose Him of our own volition. Free choice is one way we are made in the image of God. God desires us to follow and obey Him, but He wants us to choose Him, not just be a bunch of robots programmed to do that.

    Wrapping Up

    By now I hope I’ve done justice to God’s sovereignty and His goodness. They are two key aspects of God, and it wouldn’t be good to treat them flippantly. And it’s important to remember that God is on the throne, He is sovereign, and all things will be made new and put right. And we all need to remember that we are in a war. We live in a world of two kingdoms duking it out. But we have nothing to fear. For God will work it all out in the end. That is our hope as Christians that we can hold onto.

    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!

  • 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!

  • Trinity Trilogy – God The Holy Spirit

    Trinity Trilogy – God The Holy Spirit

    Intro

    Welcome to the third part of the Trinity Trilogy! In this final part of the trilogy, I am reviewing the third member of the Trinity: God the Holy Spirit. If you haven’t read the others, I encourage you to catch up on God the Father and God the Son.

    Who is The Holy Spirit?

    God the Holy Spirit generates more controversy and confusion within the church than the other members of the Trinity. But He is a very real and very important member. God sent Holy Spirit for a reason – well, multiple reasons. I aim to address a few of those reasons here. And as you’ll see, His primary job is to point to Jesus and God. Secondary, He works in and through us to build the church.

    Him or It?

    The first thing that to address about Holy Spirit is “Him vs It.” Some people believe that Holy Spirit is just “the spirit of God” and not a distinct person of the Godhead. According to these people, rather than a Trinity, we have a Dualinity (Dunity? Duonity? 🤷‍♂️). However, the Bible is pretty clear that Holy Spirit is a “Him”, not an “It.” How can you tell? One: masculine pronouns are used to refer to Him throughout the New Testament (including the original Greek). Two: various verses refer to Him as a separate person. Verses like Matthew 28:19 that teaches us to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit. Or Ephesians 4:30 that tells us not grieve Him.

    From these verses and more, I believe Holy Spirit to be a distinct person within the Trinity. Given that, I choose to refer to Him as “Holy Spirit”, rather than “the Holy Spirit”. It might be semantics, but it makes Holy Spirit sound more like a true name rather than a title or description.

    The Advocate

    Jesus declares that He will “ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever – the Spirit of truth” (John 14:16-17 NIV). Later in this chapter, Jesus says the Advocate (Holy Spirit) will “teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” So, Holy Spirit helps us by reminding us of all Jesus’ said and teaching us the truth of it, as well as helping us to understand it. Later on, Jesus states that when Holy Spirit comes, He will “prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8 NIV).

    Other translations say “convicts” rather than “prove”. And since that’s the more familiar phrasing, I’ll use that in my explanations of what each of them mean.

    Convicts of Sin

    Convicting of sin is probably the most obvious of Holy Spirit’s jobs. So, this doesn’t warrant much explanation other than stating that feeling of guilt that we get after sinning is the Holy Spirit leading us to repentance.

    It is worth mentioning that verse 9 states, “about sin, because people do not believe in me”. When I read this, I interpret it to mean that people cannot fully grasp the concept of sin if they don’t believe in God. If God doesn’t exist, then there is no moral standard and therefore no sin.

    Convicts of Righteousness

    Convicting of Righteousness is a bit trickier to understand. Verse 10 states “about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer.” I admit to not fully understanding this one until I wrote this post. The short version of what I found is that Jesus is the standard for righteousness. And no one can measure up to that standard – no matter how hard we try. What I get out of that is that Holy Spirit reminds us that without Jesus, we have no righteousness. So, conviction of righteousness becomes a conviction of our pride.

    Convicts of Judgment

    Jesus’ explains conviction of judgment in verse 11, “about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.” When Jesus died and rose again, He defeated Satan – the prince of this world. His defeat was his condemnation. And all who stand opposed to God and reject Him face the same condemnation. And Holy Spirit convicts, or reminds, people of this truth.

    God’s love for us resulted in Him sending Holy Spirit to help us. To remind us of Jesus words, to draw us closer to God, to convict us where we need it. All of it to bring us into relationship and to give us a fulfilling life.

    The Deposit

    Paul writes in Ephesians 1:13-14 that “you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory.” Now, what exactly does it mean that Holy Spirit is a deposit? Think of it like you would a down payment. When buying a house, there is an initial payment made – the down payment. Just think of the indwelling of Holy Spirit as that first payment. God promises that we will receive our inheritance when we cross over. And Holy Spirit dwelling in us guarantees that God will keep His promise to give us the rest.

    The Distributer of Gifts

    1 Corinthians 12 says that Holy Spirit distributes gifts to people. Spiritual gifts are probably the most controversial aspect of Holy Spirit, at least some of them are. And some people forget that some of these gifts are actually spiritual gifts. So, what exactly are spiritual gifts? Simply put, Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts to people to enable them to minister to others in some way. They’re a way to encourage people, to point people to God and His love, and to point people to Jesus and His sacrifice.

    Spiritual gifts can be broken down into 3 main categories: Motivation, Ministry, and Manifestation. I’m not going deep on any of them, but I will give a brief description of each.

    Motivational Gifts

    In Romans 12:6-8, Paul lists the 7 motivational gifts as prophesying, serving, teaching, encourage, giving, leading, and showing mercy. As we look at the greater context of Romans 12, it becomes clear that the purpose of these gifts is in service to God and to the Body of Christ. These people motivate other members of the body to step out and exercise their own gifts and do what God called them into.

    Ministry Gifts

    Ephesians 4:11 tells of the ministry gifts, “So Christ gave himself the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers.” And the purpose of these gifts is helpfully stated in the next verse “to equip his people for works of service.” When reading these gifts, many people think that people with these gifts bear the responsibility for leading people to salvation, bringing people to church, praying for everyone and everything, etc. But according to this passage, their only job is to equip His people, the church, to do the works. We as individual members of the body hold responsibility for reaching the lost and ministering to the people of the world. It’s impossible for the pastoral staff of any (or all) churches to do that.

    Manifestation Gifts

    The category of manifestation Gifts is the category that has people most confused and up in arms about. They’re referred to as “manifestation” because they are the obviously supernatural ones. And people tend to fear the supernatural or not believe in it all. Or they believe in it, but fear of man prevents them from talking about them or displaying support for them. Some believe that these gifts (at least some of them) ended with the deaths of the apostles.

    Paul lists these gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:7-10, “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by means of the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.” (NIV). Paul lists out 9 gifts here, message of wisdom, message of knowledge, faith, healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits, speaking in tongues, and interpretation of tongues.

    The primary purpose of these gifts is for edifying and building up the church. We see that as we continue reading through chapters 12-14. Sure, we can use them as part of outreach and witnessing to people, but it’s also clear that God intended many of these gifts to be used on a regular basis within the church. And as these happen more frequently within the church, they will naturally happen outside the church as our faith and boldness grow.

    Emphasis

    It’s dangerous to downplay Holy Spirit because He’s the one who empowers you to work out your faith and do what God calls you to. By ignoring Him, you stifle yourself and make yourself virtually ineffective in serving God. On the other hand, over-emphasizing Him is also dangerous. When you over-emphasize Holy Spirit, you run the risk of becoming like those who believe that continuing revelation from Holy Spirit (a result of the Manifestation gifts) nullifies the need to have an adequate knowledge of the Bible. This leads to buying into false doctrines and a lot of deception.

    Wrapping Up

    The misconceptions of the Holy Spirit cause a lot of people to either downplay Him or over-emphasize Him. I hope and pray that this post gives you some clarity so that you don’t swing to far one way or the other.

    Well, that’s all for this post. Join me next time as I wrap up my discussion on the Trinity by doing my best to explain the concept of the Trinity itself.

    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!