The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours; the world and all that is in it, you have founded them. Psalm 89:11 ESVThe heavens are His. The earth and all that is in it is His. He made them. He made us. As Christians we'd all acknowledge that intellectually, and yet how easy it is in this self-focused society and Gospel we often hear to shift that around and not even realize we are doing it—to "sell" God like a product based on His benefits, or come to God for what He does for us. Or to look around and to say, "I have this and that and I have God and I have a family and I have a car and I have . . ." lumping Him in with everything else we "have."
But there is a reality that we must come to realize if we are ever going to truly surrender to Him. It begins with realizing—meditating on—that before all "this" around us was, there was God and God alone, perfectly complete and sufficient in the Trinity. Spend some time simply imagining and reflecting on that—God and nothing else. God, completely complete. Perfect. In need of nothing.
To often we ask questions that suppose there is a purpose for God or for the Trinity or that God came to be or took a certain form for a reason. The true place to begin and to realize is that God doesn't exist for a reason, or He is not the Trinity for a reason, He simply is that way and always has been. He is the start of everything. It all begins in Him. There was nothing that created Him, or came before Him, so any question that implies there is a reason for God or for the form God takes is wrong because it presupposes there was cause for God or a decision in how God would be—that God serves a purpose. (For an excellent discussion on this read Chapter 2 of Fred Sanders book The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything.)
God simply is, in the form He is, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, from everlasting to everlasting. He is, and always was, and always will be. EVERYTHING else finds its origin and start and beginning and life and source in Him, from Him. And, realizing that He is totally COMPLETE and WHOLE in and of Himself we realize He needs nothing . . . therefore EVERYTHING He does is from His desire and pleasure, not because He needed something and had to.
Beginning in this place—having had that reality go from our head to our heart through pondering on it—we then realize that the ONLY, the SOLE, the SINGLE reason we exist is that at some point (after He had already existed for eternity without us) He decided and wanted to create us. That is it. There was God, and being God He needed nothing. He didn't have to create us. He wasn't incomplete without us. He was God, perfect, complete, eternal. And from that place, as a free gift, He DECIDED to create us and all that is around us. Every one of us, and everything around us, exists SIMPLY and ONLY because He decided it would, for His own reasons or pleasure. There is not a single tiny thing we offer to God that He needed that obligated Him to make us or left Him imperfect without us. It was 100% His free desire.
When I can reach that point where I realize this—that the only reason I exist is because He decided to create me for His own desire or pleasure—I then realize that, logically, because of that, I am His. He is my Creator and He created me for Him. I am the clay and He is the potter. He made me, formed me, designed me, molded me, breathed life into me. From that realization it is then a tiny step to realize I am not my own, but I am His, and He has all rights to me.
This RIGHT of God to all of us makes perfect sense and takes hold of our heart when we fully and completely realize that there was NOTHING that obligated Him to makes us or that He is indebted to us for. There isn't even a tiny iota of anything that made Him have to make us. We are ENTIRELY His creation of HIS own free gift and choice. And realizing that helps us to internalize at our core that being His entirely—our entire existence depending on and drawing from His gracious free-will gift—we are truly His, for His pleasure and will. To say it again—from that realization comes the realization that He has ALL rights to us. It is not a two way street. We don't also have rights or any basis of leverage or demand on God. Our existence is entirely one way which means we have no claim on it. We are His, and His alone. May we live as surrendered vessels recognizing that right of His over us. It will be the most joyous place we can ever live when we stop kicking against the goads and surrender.
A comment sent from a friend (Collin) via email, posted w/ permission:
ReplyDeleteErick,
Thank you for this post. As an expansion, in agreement, the holiness of God is beyond terrestial comprehension. "in whom there is no mutation or shadow from revolving motion.", so the James 1:16 assertion illuminates the sanctity/ (QDSH) holiness of YHWH. The name indicates divine independence (I am what I am) not beholden, or begotten, while we are both beholden to God and begotten by God. My experience has been that God is gracious beyond measure. His divine independent nature allows transcendence of all but His character (I am what I am). The thing about knowing God, (or what we in a roundabout way refer to as faith,) is that it is a gift (Eph 2:8-10) "For in Grace through faith are you saved, and this is not out of you; it is God's approach present, not of works, lest anyone should be boasting. For His achievement are we, being created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God makes ready beforehand, that we should be walking in them."
Manufacturing, or even cultivating faith, in one sense, I believe is fruitless and perilous. I think it can only be given, and is given for the asking, through tidings Romans 10:17 (hearing, that which is heard akoe- hearing (the act, the sense or the thing heard)) the word of God in the gracious nature of YHWH. Wrong is wrong and cant abide in the light with no mutation or shadow from revolving sphere, so faith (or knowledge of God) lives in Humility. Grace saves through faith "...and this is not out of you" So thanks for the post, and I dont mean to be redundant to your postt, but rather support it. As God's word is illuminated, it all sounds more and more similar/consistent; whether an eternal salvation discussion, faith discussion, discussion of God's nature: they all become indistinguishable as they originate from God, outside of ourselves, and ultimately reflect their creator and giver.
Thanks so much, Collin! I am blessed by your comment and for all you have helped me see about the Trinity and holiness. The issue of faith as a gift vs faith as something we are responsible for is one that I am still working on. I believe that we play a role in it or else I don't think God would be displeased with those (like the Israelites) who didn't walk in it. I believe Jesus wouldn't have asked Peter about his little faith if the only faith he could be expected to have is what Jesus would give him. It would be like Jesus criticizing Himself. I believe our saving faith comes from God in some way, but our daily walking faith sure seems to require that we play a part in it---taking doubts, etc., captive to who God is who promises. It's a lot to think about and talk about . . . sounds like a reason for some more good coffee talks!
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