Heart Soul Mind Strength

God is not scrambling for primacy.

I have heard people say that they have a hard time believing in God or the Bible because of how chaotic humanity is.  Imagine a world of absolutely perfect execution of every good and right action. Why is it that God does not, by His miracle ‘magic’, erase all the ‘bad programming’ in us and make us hapless doers of good? Would it be an idyllic world without the possibility of human actions deviating from God’s design? To me that picture of “utopia” sounds like a world of robots with no freedom to choose. Without the choice not to obey God, we also have no place for love to exist. Love requires us to choose. Love does not waver despite any circumstances.

In the Bible we see many descriptions of how love behaves. Perhaps the most famous is the Love chapter: “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.

Some people may propose a complex regimen of human efforts and sufferings to cobble together a good enough match to the requirements of God’s Command to love. Can we complete a list of tasks or meet a series of requirements to be good enough? We can do long lists of good things hoping to be acceptable, but our best efforts do not matter without love. “Though I speak with tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophesy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13: 1-3.

Humans have never succeeded in living consistently sinless lives. Psalms 53: 2-3 tells us, “God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; There is none that doeth good, no, not one.” Considering human history and our own lives, we should not pin our hope on our own ability to love God and others. Why would we expect a wise God to hang the fate of His beloved image-bearers on anything less than on His own love?

The only human to ever live a life in the world and perfectly keep God’s standard is Jesus Christ, who is God the Son. Jesus explained the standard to an inquirer in Matthew 22: 37-40: “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Despite the sin, evil, and chaos in the world; God is not moved or changed. The wisdom and strength of God is not shaken by the lies of the devil. The purity of God is not marred by the sinfulness of humanity. The authority and power of God is not diminished by the existence of evil forces that fight against His will and despise His righteousness. God does not act from a place of instability or striving to become. He IS. In Exodus chapter three verse fourteen, He introduced himself to Moses from the burning bush, “I AM WHO I AM.”

God is unchanging. Unchangeable. Unshakeable. He is the Creator and the original source of everything worth knowing. Everything else in our experience is less than God. He is stronger and mightier than the whole of it. Nobody else sets limits for Him. He defines Himself and by His wisdom sets the boundaries of everything and everyone. His power and majesty are beyond our scope of perception or ability to describe. He is the only one able to satisfy all of His standards of holiness and righteousness. God is described many places in the Bible, including Job chapters 38-41, Isaiah chapter six, and Revelation chapter five. I will leave the reader to read these Scriptures.

Let us not diminish our concept of God by limiting Him to our ability to comprehend. On the question of who God is let us choose to take His word for it. “I AM.” God’s character is our foundation, our bedrock.

Having embraced the need for the freedom to choose to love or not in an ideal world and having taken some time to ponder Who God is, next let us take in a mind-blowing detail of creation. Genesis 1:27 tells us, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Humans were fashioned to bear the image of God. The depth of this mystery could swallow up the world.

We are meant to reflect the One who made us in love. We are intended to wear His righteousness. We are instructed to spread His good seed of the gospel. His Spirit in us transforms us to be increasingly pleasing to Him, from glory to glory. In Him we live in world with compassion and wisdom. When we’re dwelling in God’s love, we are secure in His Hand and should have no fear of anything because nothing can separate us from His love (Romans chapter 8.)

A world of love, trust, and freedom allows for the possibility of chaos and struggle. But the struggle is worth the joy of knowing God’s love.