Pages


Showing posts with label Enjoying God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Enjoying God. Show all posts

Tuesday, 17 September 2013

Our Glorious, Awesome God.

Romans 11:33
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
Image Source
Oh the depths of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How wonderful He is! How unfathomable, how awesome, how powerful! How perfect and holy!

We should be thrilled at who God is. We should be entirely overawed. His wisdom, His plans and ideas, His works are deeper and richer then we could ever fathom. They bring glory to Him and they work for the good, of all those who love Him - revealing His mercy, grace, love, patience, kindness, justice, holiness, perfection and peace to us. God has done more then we could even imagine or measure!

We should simply be over-awed at who God is. We should just stand and appreciate His work, His character, His love. We should just stop and enjoy it, glorying in it and glorifying him for it.

Yet so often we are disinterested. We shrug our shoulders and go back to work or to study or to our meaningless wealth or to our friendships. I do that constantly, in fact it is the rare occasion that I just bask in God's glory - it is very rare. But it is so precious.

The wisdom of God. God's wisdom is wiser then anything we can imagine, "the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength." (1 Corinthians 1:25). What did He decide to do? He sent Jesus, who was and is eternally God as a man, to suffer and die. To live among us, and to be murdered by us. Why? So He could save us, so He could forgive us for our sins, so He could reveal to us God's full character and so that He could love us. No, it isn't about us - it's about Him, but He did do it for us as well. What an awesome God!

What does this mean for us? 

  • We can trust God! His wisdom and knowledge are unsearchable because we are so frail and ignorant. Therefore when things don't make sense, when we can't see how God is working, trust him! He knows infinitely more than us! We don't have to fret because He has promised to work everything for His glory and for the good of His people (Romans 8:28)
  • We can "Rejoice in the Lord always" (Phil 4:4) because He has shown us His character and it is wonderful. Because He is infinite and unsearchable, yet has revealed himself to us, offering to save us even though we are ignorant and foolish. If we never lose sight of the awesome God we serve, then we never have reason to stop rejoicing, because we should simply be rejoicing in who He is, and that remains constant regardless of what is happening in our lives
  • We need to be humble. God is infinite, His plans are so full, so deep, so rich, so perfect that they are unsearchable by us. Who are we to think we know better? Who are we to live in sin and rebellion to him? Who are we to ask why He does what He does? Who are we even to be noticed and loved by Him? Yet he cares for us (1 Peter 5:7) and in His mercy and grace He does call us to know Him and to ask questions. But we do that humbly, knowing that God is unfathomably more awesome then we can understand.
  • Just enjoy God. Know His character and bask in the light of who He is. Pray for His help to do that, read His word so that you can understand it further. Just enjoy God for who He is!
God is in control and He works out everything to bring glory to Him in ways that we do not understand. His paths are more wonderful then we can understand, deeper and more glorious then we can search. We cannot comprehend all He does in the world around us, in our lives and the lives of others. But God knows what He does, and we can glorify Him that He is working through everything to bring about His good and perfect purpose. We can glorify Him for who He is, and we should do that.

Where is the Joy in your walk with God? Are you basking in who He is? Are you simply enjoying the God who created, sustains and saved us? Are you enjoying His creation, which sings his praises (Psalm 19)?

To God be the glory! Great things He has done!
Soli Deo Gloria!
Nat.

Sunday, 1 September 2013

All Roads Don't Lead to Heaven (Part 2)

Image source
John 14:6
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
In the previous post, we looked at why the general belief most people have about getting to heaven is wrong. We so often think that all people, or at least all "good" people will get to heaven. The truth is, no one is good - we all stuff up. That's why Jesus is the only way to heaven. Because he is both God and man, he is the only one who could pay for our sins and make us right with God. Jesus is the only way.

The Truth

Not only is Jesus the only way to God, he is also the truth. Our world is obsessed with relative truth: "You believe what you want to, I'll believe what I want too", "Everyone's right (well, everyone besides Christians that is...)".

The fact is, Jesus is the only truth. He is the only one who can truly save. Therefore all other methods of getting to heaven, all other teachings about different "ways" to heaven, are false. They're lies. Jesus is the true way to God.

The Life 

Jesus is the life. He is the only one who can give us life. In Romans 6 we learn that because we all sin, we are "dead in sin". We deserve death (and hell eternally), and we are dead in our relationship with God.

Through Jesus there is life. He takes our sin if we put our faith in him, and he makes us alive with him. Romans 6 continues by telling us that we, when we became christians, died with Christ and rose to life with him. We died to sin, and we rose again. We are New creations (2 Corinthians 5:17). Through Jesus we are forgiven, the wages of sin are taken away and we are granted God's grace - eternal life with Him in heaven after we die.

Jesus truly is the life.

The Only way to God

Another thought on this is that heaven is where we will be with God, enjoying his presence forever. The whole sentiment that all roads lead to heaven is based on the idea that heaven will be a great place to be. That's absolutely true, but it'll be great because we will be with God eternally. Therefore if people are living lives where they are rejecting God here, then in a sense they will get what they want (and deserve) when God judges - they will be separated from all the benefits of his character - his grace, mercy, love, and they will face his wrath, justice and purity for eternity.

The point of heaven is not to enjoy having whatever we want, it's to enjoy God and glorify him forever - and in heaven we will be transformed and made pure so that worshipping God does give us the perfect Joy. If you're living a life that rejects God, seeking only enjoyment from this life, how can you expect to enjoy him forever? You're not following Jesus who is the only way, the only truth and the only way to life.