Started on July 17, 2018, modified on May 30, 2020

 

So what do you know about God? Did you know that there is only one God? Now this is a bit confusing, but did you know that God is comprised of three beings or personalities (Matthew 28:19)? There is God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit. The one true God is 3 in one. We touched on 3 in one. That's not that each other is 33% a God. I don’t fully understand it either and I doubt any man does. But the three distinct personalities are equal and harmonious.  This is known as the Triune.

Want to get blown away by spiritual math? 3 in 1 is difficult. But how about this one. Jesus the Son was fully 100% man, and yet fully 100% God (Philippians 2:7, John 10:30)!  Figure that one out. Only the one true God can do this. As God, He knew and knows everything. Not just where all the material stuff is. He knows our physical pains, he knows our emotional pains and he knows our thoughts (Hebrews 4:15). This is called Omniscience.  He knows everything that there is to know. Everything. Not just the stuff that worth knowing. He knows it all.

God is also Omnipotent (Luke 1:37). That means all-powerful. There is nothing that God can’t do. Physically. Spiritually. Whateverfully. To say that he spoke, merely spoke it, everything into existence

And existence doesn’t really even begin to truly describe his power.

He created every physical thing in six roughly 24 hour days (Exodus 20:11). After the 6 day, He stopped physically creating stuff. The Bible says He rested. But it isn’t the same rest as we need. It just means that He had finished the very purposeful physical things that he wanted. Nothing more was physically needed for him to work out his very purposeful plan.

**Side note here. We’re perplexed and would to ask God how He could have created everything in 6 days. The better and real question is what took Him so long! Side note finished.

And knowing everything, He knew that by working 6 days and taking a break on another, He would be setting a model for humanity to follow for working and resting. Thus our 7 days week.

As I stated several times, God had a very purposeful plan and executed it in a very purposeful manner.

What’s the plan? To bring glory to himself (Colossians 1:16). That may sound selfish but it isn’t. You see, even though God will not give up any of his glory (Isaiah 42:8), He invites us in to participate in it (John 17:22, James 2:5).  Eternally!  So the full nature of the plan is to create beings that have free will in choosing whether or not they want to participate in the glory (Ephesians 2:10, John 15:15).  He didn’t want robots that don’t have a choice (Jude 6). He wanted beings (man, and yes women) that could choose (Joshua 24:15).

But there really is only one choice (Deuteronomy 30:15). One choice leads to Eternal life (John 14:6 )(in reality, everyone has eternal life, but eternal life without God is Hell or Damnation (Revelation 21:8). One life is happy with God, the other is pure torture without God. Both are eternal. But you get to choose which one you want to live out).

So on the 6th day of creation, toward the last of His works he created the pinnacle of His creation. Man (Genesis 1:26–28). Man wasn’t something that he had forgotten about when He created everything. Man was created last so that everything (creation) was setup and prepared for him. Everything was made for man.

And He created man in his image. We’re not talking about the physical image of man, but of his reasoning abilities, his personalities, his very essence or being. He didn’t make us equal to Himself, but He gave us some of His characteristics.  Everybody, every human being, gets some of these qualities. But everyone doesn’t get the same portion or in the same manner. And one of these qualities of His image is His selfishness in not giving up any of His glory. But this too was part of His plan.

Now since God created everything (Colossians 1:16). Literally everything. Nothing new gets or is created**. He setup things (like DNA) to work in His creation in a consistant manner (Colossians 1:17). And since He created it, it is all His (Psalm 24:1, Deuteronomy 10:14). Including us.

In reality, we could not come into existence by ourselves. We cannot actually create anything. We can manipulate what He has made. Part of the image He shared with us is creativity. But no matter how hard we try. No matter how hard we search. No matter how hard we look to ourselves, we, man, cannot create anything.

For to truly create something, you have to do it from nothing (Ex Nihilo). Our scientists say we can use energy to create matter. Inversely it is also true that when you destroy matter, you get energy. But this is man’s convention that we have defined what matter is and what energy is. We don’t know how God defines them but, He created them both (or it depending on how you define them). So even if we think or fool ourselves into believing that we created something, we didn’t and haven’t and never will.

So back to the plan. Since we have some of God’s qualities via His image, we also have the selfishness in us that He has. And this where sin comes in. Since God is unwilling to give up any of His glory, then when we try to give ourselves glory, we sin, or rebel against God. Since we didn’t create ourselves, since we cannot create anything at all, what glory is there for us (Proverbs 16:18)?

But we want our own glory (2 Timothy 3:2-4). We want to do what we want. To glorify ourselves. Trying to glorify ourselves is attempting to steal some of God’s glory. But we want to make our own decisions. We want to live life the way we want. We want to make our own rules. We don’t want someone else (God) to tell us what to do. That’s something reserved solely for a god. So by trying to do our own thing; to make ourselves god, we are rebelling against God.

Many angels in heaven were cast out when they decided that they were going to be their own god (Luke 10:18, 2 Peter 2:4). They decided that they were not going to do what God instructed them to do. They rebelled. Lucifer, also known as Satin, was the leader of the rebellion (Revelation 12:9). And when God wouldn’t let him be god (how could he have anyway as he was created and cannot create anything himself) his anger burned and he has and is doing everything he can to get back at God (which is futile as you can’t get back at God). He’s trying to keep as many souls away from God as possible to goad God (1 Peter 5:8).

Let’s wrap this one up. We’ve learned some about God’s character, knowledge and ability or power (we’ll never fully comprehend them). We’ve learned that He has a plan. He started with a plan before He started creation; a plan wasn’t needed because sin or rebellion crept in. He knew beforehand that they would get in.

What we haven’t mentioned is how the plan unfolds and how it actually benefits us. How God will use our rebellion to bring us back to Him.

I’m wingin’ it here so I don’t have a specific course or time table to cover all of the things zooming around in my mind concerning God. So there is no syllabus or anything to keep me or you on track. You’ll just have to keep coming back for what’s next.

 

Started on July 18, 2018 last modified on May 20, 2020

 

I  my first installment in this series, I conveyed to you God’s omniscientness (Romans 11:33), which means He is all knowing. Also, his omnipotentness (Luke 1:37, Job 42:2), which means He is all powerful. I didn’t mention his omnipresentness (Jeremiah 23:24, Psalm 139:7). That means He is everywhere at all times. So you can’t hide from God because besides being omniscient (He knows everything which would mean He knows where you are hiding) but He is there with you because He is omnipresent (everywhere all the time). So in essence, you wouldn’t nor couldn’t be hiding at all.

I also conveyed to you that God is selfish and isn’t willing to give away and of his glory (Isaiah 42:8 ) (you couldn’t take it away because he is omnipotent, so if there was any glory not with Him, he would have had to give it away, and He isn’t gonna do that).

But he’s willing to share His glory (John 17:22, John 3:16). In fact He wants to. He wants to share it with something (someone/mankind) that can appreciate it (animals can’t appreciate it). He wants to share it with such a passion so great that try as we may, is indescribable and unfathomable to us. Our greatest love songs can’t even begin to compare. Not even begin. Randy Travis’s song of a love to his girl (My Love Is Deeper) wouldn’t be a grain of sand in the universe by comparison of God’s passion.

And to share it, He’d have to think about (which He did) how He would do that. And thus the Plan. And, get this; the plan actually gives more glory to Himself, which in turn will let us share in all the more glory. It’s not a vicious cycle, it’s a terrific cycle!

So God begins executing the plan. The first stage of the plan is to create everything that there is (Genesis 1:1). He created time. He created the material realm. Matter, anti-matter, energy, anti-energy, dark matter and  dark energy if there are such things, and dimensions, etc. Anything that is measurable, touchable, visible (I was going to us ‘seeable’ but I caught myself) He created. Anything we can interact with was created by Him!

Piece of trivia for ya. Time was created when the material realm was created. They began together.

 

Side note on.

Sometime or another, He created the spiritual realm as well (Colossians 1:16). I don’t know when. It may have been at the same time that he created the material world or it may have been before. It definitely didn’t come after. For the purpose of definition, there are only 2 realms, the material realm, the one in which we live, and the spiritual realm. No causation in the material realm can interact with the spiritual realm. The spiritual realm however can interact with the material realm.

In other words, science or whatever from the material realm cannot detect or cause some kind of action or reaction. It’s kinda like a one way glass. We (the material) can only see and interact with our own realm. The spiritual realm, however, can interact in both realms.

Kinda like me and a can of pork and beans. The pork can only wallow in the goodness of the bean realm (can). It knows nothing of what is outside of the can. However, I (the spiritual realm) can choose to open the pork and beans (thus interacting with it) or go fishing. The pork and beans is the universe/cosmos. All the other stuff is the spiritual realm. The material realm exists within the spiritual realm.

The spiritual realm can know what’s in the can. Sometimes the spiritual realm chooses to interact with the pork and beans (I can to open the can, so to speak). I can get in there at them beams with a spoon (the spiritual can interact with the physical) but the beans can’t get on the spoon if it isn’t inside the can (the material realm can’t cause interacting with the spiritual).

Side Note Off (Wow, if that was just a side note, I bet your in for a treat if I was to get off on a tangent).

So we were talking about God sharing with us His glory but not giving any of it up. And the plan to do so. And how He created everything that there is. And the pinnacle of His creation was man (mankind). This man-thing has some of God’s attributes within him. Maybe all of them or only some of them; I don’t know. I do know that any attribute of God’s that we possess is only a small portion of what God Himself has.

So, short story short (cumulative wrap up of the six days of creation), creation is done. And as creator, God gets to set the rules for all that he created. So he makes a rule for Adam (the first man, that he created, not the first of created man; subtle difference) and the woman Eve, that he formed from Adam.

And it’s a simple rule.

Don’t eat this (Genesis 2:17). You can eat everything else, but don’t eat this. God provided everything that Adam and Eve and the whole of creation needed (Genesis 1:29). I’d hazard to say even wanted. And this can all be yours. So long as you don’t eat this.

 

But they ate it………..

 

Created on July 20, 2018 last modified on May 30, 2020

 

*** recap ***

6 days in, God had created everything that there is. The pinnacle of His creation was man (Humankind). He also bestowed on man some of His attributes. Everything was provided form man (and the rest of creation).

*** on with the story ***

Work was easy and enjoyable. Adam (the first man) and Eve (the woman God created from Adam) just had to tend the garden (Genesis 2:15). Stuff like walk around and clip off the blooms of flowers that were beyond their peak. Pick the rip fruits off of the vine. Clean up after the dinosaurs. WHAT? More on people and dinosaurs sometime.

There was no pain. No illness. No death. Just eat, sleep and whatever you do after you eat. No worries. It was paradise. God would even go for walks with Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:8). I don’t know what they would have talked about as newly created beings, Adam and Eve didn’t have any stories or adventures yet.

God gave them some commands/rules. Be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:28) (what else are you going to do when you’re in paradise with your love and no clothes on?). Tend the garden (see who can grow the largest pumpkin). Simple fun commands.. Stuff you wouldn’t mind doing (free food and naked in paradise with your love; what more could you want?).

But he gave them a different kind of command after he finished (blessing) them with the other commands. At first thought, we might think this was stupid. Don’t eat something (Genesis 2:17). Still pretty simple. Your still naked in paradise with love. All, this can be yours, so long as you don’t this simple thing.

Our first thoughts (not Adam’s) would probably be something like; what’s wrong with that fruit? Is God saving the best for Him and not sharing? Will that fruit mess up my digestive system; which was probably of great concern to Adam and Eve since toilet paper had yet to be invented.

He said, don’t eat this. If you do, you’ll surely die. So the fruit wasn’t any good, hmmm. The concern about the toilet paper may have been justified. So, despite the fruit being bad for Adam and Eve (not physically bad for them anyway) there actually wasn’t anything wrong with the fruit. It was just part of the plan.

God was showing them and allowing them to have free will (freedom to choose; to choose what’s right, which is what God says to do, or the freedom to do what’s wrong, which goes against what God tells you to do).

Going against God is rebellion. Just as children choose rebel against their parents (which is a big wrong, especially now that I myself am on the parent side of things). Another name for rebellion against God and His commands is sin.

Having given Adam and Eve the ability to exercise their freedom of choice (and knowing what they would ultimate do), God told them what the consequences would be. Death (.Genesis 2:17) A physical death as well as a spiritual death.

Don’t eat the fruit guys. We’re having a good time here. We walk around together. We talk. I tell the stories as you haven’t done much yet. You got a pretty good thing going here. Plenty to eat. Nothing is going to eat you. Your naked with each other in paradise. Just don’t eat the fruit.

Later, we don’t know how soon after creation, Eve was by herself (probably because Adam didn’t know what was wrong and she wasn’t going to tell him if he didn’t know; just kidding. She probably like Adam’s snoring; kidding again). She was keeping busy (or just needed a break from Adam as they were naked together in paradise). Then something spoke to her. A snake (Genesis 3:1) (serpent actually).

A snake in most people’s presence is probably bad enough. This one spoke. Why Eve didn’t immediately jump, turn 180 degrees while hovering in the air (think cartoons) and get the heck out of there we aren’t told. She stayed and had a conversation with the thing.

Maybe she had plans to torment the snake like my family member of mine do when we see snakes (it is almost a law that you have to torment snakes when you see one). She may have been carrying on a conversation with the snake, keeping it occupied, while she looked for a stick with which to aid her in tormenting the snake.

I doubt that tormenting the snake scenario though as everything was still very good (God’s own words) There was no reason to be afraid of snakes or anything for that matter. After all, they were living in paradise. No pain, suffering or death. Nothing to do but eat, sleep and other, eh hmmm, other things, being naked in paradise and all.

The conversation may have gone something like this;

 

Snake – Nice weather we’re having.

Eve – Silence (she doesn’t want to talk to a snake; who would?)

Snake – The air is nice and clear. Do you smell those lily’s?

Eve – (says nothing)(cricket background noise)

Snake – Went on vacation yet? I hear the other side of the garden is nice this time year.

Eve – “We haven’t put enough work in yet to get our vacation time off, having only been created a short time”, she says in a condescending tone.

Snake – Oh yeah, I forgot about that.

Eve – (Idiot she thinks to herself)

Snake – well, I better get going. Starting to get hungry. Figure I can stop by Candy Swamp (reference to Candy Land he game) and dig me up some gummy worms. It’s kinda long way off though. Would you by any chance have a little snack to tide me over.

Eve – Silence

Snake – Nothin’ at all? You ain’t hiding anything?

Eve – I don’t have any pockets to hide anything in because I’m naked. No I don’t have a snack. (Idiot she thinks to herself again).

Snake – Hmmm. Oh! Look over there. There’s some strawberry's (it’s my story, I like strawberry's, and since we aren’t told what kinda the fruit is in the Biblical account, I stray from tradition and say strawberry's) hanging on that tree. I think I’ll have one of those. Come join me in a little snack.

 

That’s where the Biblical story picks up. Who knows, it may have happen that way (but I doubt it).

Anyhow, the snake tells Eve to eat the fruit. Eve states that they aren’t supposed to eat the fruit. She tells the snake so and also tells him what the consequences (they would die) would be if she or Adam were to eat it (Genesis 3:3).

**She even went to exaggerate (** trivia ** this is the first recorded exaggeration in history) and said that they were to not even look upon it. I believe I read an version of the Bible that said this though the KJV doesn’t.  It may have interpreted not to touch for do not even look upon. I’ll research this later.***

But the snake tells Eve a lie (Genesis 3:4). He gets her to second guess what God had said. He told her that they wouldn’t die. He told her that if they are it that she and Adam would become like God (Genesis 3:5). And the fruit looked good (Genesis 3:6 ) (doesn’t a lot of sin). And as I mentioned before, who would want to do their own thing and have their own glory?

Eve, exercising her freewill, deiced to believe the snake and not God, whom she walked and talked with every day, and do her own thing. So she took the fruit and took a bite of it. It tasted good. Possibly even great.

Having not immediately fallen over grave yard dead, she took the fruit to Adam. Adam was probably trying to take a nap. Exercising one of the three things they liked most since being created (Eat, sleep and well, you know since I ‘ve mentioned it several times thus far).

Since Eve hadn’t been around for a while, their conversation probably went something like this (remember, Adam was probably trying to get a nap in, but Eve was chattering away as usual, her not having any friends that Adam doesn’t know limits new storytelling and cuts down considerably on their social life; social life, snoozal life. They were naked in paradise).

 

Eve – Nice weather we’re having.

Adam – Yep (at least he acknowledged that a conversation was in progress which was more than she had done with the snake)

Eve – The air is nice and clear. Do you smell those lily’s?

Adam – “Mmmmm”, he says sleepily.

Eve – Went on vacation yet? I hear the other side of the garden is nice this time year.

Adam – (Adam partially opens one eye giving Eve the look)

Eve – I was just talking to a snake and...

Adam – (jumps up, leaps into the air and while hovering, turns 180 degrees then shoots off toward the brush pile to look for a stick to aid him in his tormenting a snake).

Eve follows Adam and approaches him.

Adam suddenly stops and slowly turns toward Eve.

Adam – What do you mean you were talking to a snake? (He directed that question to Eve, which I needn’t to have mentioned as she was the only other person on earth so the question had to go to her.

Eve – (babbling on). Yeah, like I was sitting there. Facebooking. Like no new posts yet, no new friends requests (how could there be any posts as there wasn’t anyone else in the world besides Adam to post on Facebook). Like this snake came and started talking. So rude. You’d think he could have seen I was doing something (Facebooking).

Adam – (Thinks how he was doing something (trying to nap) when Eve came up and started talking to him)

Eve – Like, I think he was hitting on me or something. OMG, I don’t know why he’d think he has a chance or that I was available (** editors note ** Neither she nor Adam knew they were naked as of this time). Like, eeewww. A snake. Really?  (Adam’s thinking – Get on with it. Evening will be here and I’ll have not gotten my nap in before it’s time to go to bed). (he contemplates how many more times God can make a woman from him; 11 is my count).

Eve – Like, he told me to eat the fruit. The fruit! And I did. I ate it and like I’m not dead.

Adam – Hmmm. Must have been your day.

Eve – Like, OMG, it was awesome. Like, better than a strawberry. Here, have a bite. We can be like God.

Adam – (looking at Eve, he deduces that she is indeed not dead, though her story telling was about to kill him)

Eve holds the fruit out for Adam to take.

Adam – Like God huh?

 

Adam took it. It looked better than any other strawberry that he had even seen, and he’d seen a lot in the few days he had been alive. While Adam looked untrustingly at Eve, he took a bite (Genesis 3:6).

Immediately, they knew they had done something wrong (Genesis 3:7). Immediately, they knew they had sinned. They knew that they were naked, and was ashamed. They knew that God wasn’t going to be happy with them and that scarred them. They knew fear for the first time.

Adam and Eve in unison – What have we done!? AARRGGG! Why did we eat the fruit?

 

Then they heard God coming….

 

Created on July 22, 2018 last modified on May 30, 2020

 

God was coming to speak with Adam and Eve. He knew what they had done. He knew that they would disobey Him. He knows everything. He knew they (us, if we were in their place) were going to muck up this very good creation.

But believe it or not, it’s all part of the plan. His plan. His plan for increasing His glory. His plan for us as well. To share in that glory with Him forever.

Aahhhh, but there’s a catch. I cover that catch sometime in the future. Let me just give a little hint and say that it isn’t a catch 22 though.

So Adam and Eve are trying to hide from God (Genesis 3:8). They are scared. They are afraid (Genesis 3:10). We’d be (and will be) scared and afraid if we had to stand before God and fess up to what we did (here’s another little hint; not everyone will have to stand up and take the punishment for our wrongs against God; again, more on this in the future).

God called out to them (Genesis 3:9). They answered from within some brush (at least they didn’t have to worry about getting stuck with thorn's or catching poison ivy yet, as they didn’t exist). God asked why they were hiding from Him and they answered Him saying they were naked.

It’s kinda funny, the way God interacts with us. He knows everything about us but we don’t often know things about our self's. This question that God asks is one of my points. He asked a question that He already knows the answer to. He asks us questions that He already knows the answers to.  But He wants us to not only understand the question, but the answer and the motivation behind the action.

God then responded in a very harsh way (Genesis 3:14). In a nut shell, He cursed all of creation because sin had been introduced and would permeate all of creation. All this through one man, Adam (Romans 5:12). Adam, being the first of mankind and having been given dominion over all of the earth and was responsible for it, had brought sin to creation and it would be inherited by all of his off spring.

Remember when I said the sin is rebellion? We’ll, Adam rebelled against God. He sinned against God. If it wasn’t for God’s plan, He could have just snuffed the two of them out and started again. Adam and Eve had became like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6) from just one sin. Not worth keeping. They had rebelled against God and feel short of His glory. Another words, they could no longer share in God’s eternal glory. And they couldn’t do anything about it; but someone else could; and will (more on this later, tee he, he, he…)

So because of sin, Adam could no longer be in God’s presence. I get this and I don’t get this. How, can God be everywhere, all the time, simultaneously, but not be in His presence. I don’t understand it all but fortunately, I don’t have to; He’ll fill in the blanks later.

So by not being in God’s presence (to some extent, we’re still in His presence), some of the richness of blessings were and are being withheld. Being out of God’s presence entirely is Hell and eternal damnation, but we’re not there yet. God cursed creation and creation began groaning.

The leisurely task of keeping the garden was changed to removal from the garden (Genesis 3:23), to difficult labor, pain and death. God still shows kindness by sending the rains in their times (Matthew 5:45), and giving cool breezes and other good stuff. But it isn’t as good as the original very good creation.

Before we get all down on Adam, the reality is that we would have done, and essentially do all the time, the same thing as Adam. We don’t want to follow the rules. We want to do our own thing. We want to be god. But there’s only one God, and no matter what, we cannot obtain ‘Godness’.

But again, this is all part of the plan. I mentioned earlier, that although Adam and Eve (us) were like filthy rags, worthless in our present state, we are still loved and coveted by God (John 3:16, Romans 8:38-39). God didn’t make his creation pinnacle to just throw away. Despite their wanting to be their (our) own thing, God still wanted them (us) to be with Him for eternity (John 3:17). But Adam and Eve, nor ourselves, can get back into God’s good graces by our own means. We needed help. All part of the plan.

God promised that through Eve’s off spring, that there would someone come that would take away the curse. Redeem them (us) back to God (Genesis 3:15). The penalty of rebellion/sin still had to paid. The fine has to be paid. God, not being able to go back on His word (that’d be lying which is something He cannot do (Hebrews 6:18) when he pronounced death if they disobeyed, had to enforce the death penalty, just not immediately.

 

Now the plan is unfolding and the story is gettin’ good…..

Stay connected ‘till next time.

 

** A little spoiler, God pays the fine. **

 

Created on July 23, 2018 last modified on May 30, 2020

 

I like to consider myself a manly kind of guy. I’m confident in my manhood. So much so that I can hold a woman’s purse, let my daughter paint my nails and I can buy that woman stuff at the store without too much embarrassment. In a lot of ways, I am really the poster child (man) for manliness.

I am even manly enough to cry and show ‘unmanly’ emotions. I can appreciate emotions even more than I can show them. I also try to deflect emotions with humor.

But I do try to let the humor guard/reflex mechanism down from time to time.  This would be one of those times.

God’s perfect plan is to show us how much He cares for us. How much He loves us (John 3:16-17). How much He thinks, desires to be with, does and prepares in the future tense for us. He wants to shower us with gifts and to make our lives easier. To bring the rains in their time (Leviticus 26:4), to make the crops give up their bounty more plentifully. To lessen our pain and give us a long enjoyable life. Because he loves us. Even when we don’t want to be loved nor deserve it.

I mentioned Randy Travis’s song previously. Randy says that all those things can’t show how much he loves his woman. Try as Randy might, he can’t explain just how pain achingly (?) much he loves her.

God’s love for us puts Randy’s song and love to shame. Randy (or his writer) need not even have bothered writing or singing the song, as it doesn’t even compare or begin to explain the love God has for us. I am awed at how vast that love is. His love for me (everyone). Even though I don’t deserve it.

The plan shows us and helps us to understand how great the love is that God has for us.

You see, God made us with an eternal soul (Daniel 12:2 ) (the soul is us essentially) and He made us with love (1 John 4:19). But despite us being loved, we don’t want it. We wanted to do our own thing. We rebelled against God and walked away from Him. He didn’t want us to go. He doesn’t want us to stay gone. Staying with God is eternal life, and inversely being away from God is death. Rebelling against God is sin.  Sinning against God is punishable by death and fine has to be paid.

And here’s where we are shown how much God loves us. He let His Son (a part of Himself as the Triune God) come and pay the fine in our place (John 3:16, 2 Corinthians 5:21). Where we were to die for our sin, His Son would die in our place. He (Christ), who created and pronounced the judgment, would then turn around and pay the fine. He does this willingly (John 15:13). All we have to do recognize Him for who He is and let Him pay it.

God could have made the fine something trivial. No Mountain Dew for a week. Have to wear our underwear on the outside of our pants for a month. Have to walk poodles around and clean up their poodle poop (Hmmm, some people do this willing and don’t think of it as punishment; their crazy).  Anything other than a horrible death.

However, anything less than a horrible death wouldn’t show how much He loves us. And this is the greatest love, that one lay his life down (give up his life willingly) for another (John 15:13).

Sometimes I cry when I think about how much God loves me; when I think I should be unlovable; when I know I should be unlovable. Like after I have one of those worst moments there is; cuss, throw things, stomp my feet and use His name inappropriately. After I am done with the moment and I start settling down. I realize how my actions made me feel small. I am small. How unattractive I must be in everyone’s, and especially God’s, eyes. And after a few moments, it hits me. Despite how ugly that episode was, how hurtful my words were, how far I had fallen, how disappointing I must have been, I realize that God still loves me. And this awareness can bring tears to my eyes. Sometimes, I just plain break down and bawl.

I don’t like to admit that I do. I sometimes succumb to peer-pressure that says that a man doesn’t cry (real men can cry, we just need a real reason). But I do. I don’t like for people to know that I miss mark (and I seem to miss it a lot). Yeah, I sometimes cry. I’m manly enough to admit it and to do it.

But God loves us that much. He died in our place so that we have the opportunity to share and bask in His glory (Romans 5:8). All we have to do is admit that we are sinners and that we need Jesus to save us from the punishment of death (1 John 1:9). We can’t just say it though; we have to mean it. That’s it. It’s that simple.

Perhaps we want it a different way. Perhaps we don’t just want it as free as we feel obligated to Him then (and we should and are). Maybe we think that we need to contribute to the payment of the fine. Try to pay some if it ourselves. We can’t. We can’t pay for it in any way shape or form. We can only accept it, as a free gift, from God (Romans 6:23).

That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t feel obligated after the fine has been paid. Quite the contrary. If you accept this free gift, you’re expected to change (2 Corinthians 5:17, Romans 12:2, Philippians 4:8).

 

And that’s where we go from “Who God Is” to “Where Do We Fit In”.

The plan is simple. The where do we (you and I) fit in isn’t. . . .

Come surf back to learn more.

 

Created on Aug 5, 2018 last updated on May 30, 2020

 

To recap. God made us. We rebelled (sounds like a theme to some TV series). Rebellion is Sin. Sin is a stench to God. Nobody wants to be around stench. And we reek. Reek to high heaven. And we choose to smell bad. We choose to sin. We reek badly. We sin badly. And sin separates us from God.  There is a penalty for sin and it is death.  And we deserve to die.

But God still loves us. He wants to be with us and for us to be with him. But He can’t be around us in our smelly (sinful) state. And we can’t clean ourselves up. But He provided(s) a way to clean us up.

He sent his Son, Jesus, to take the stench away from us (Romans 5:8). He came and literally lifted the sin we have off of us and placed it upon himself (1 Peter 2:24). By His death, and His shedding of His blood that washes us, we are clean (1 John 1:7). All we have to do is ‘get in the shower’. That is accepting what He has done for us. Accept Him as our Savior (John 1:12).

When we admit that we are rebellious sinners, and admit that we can’t do this ourselves, and admit that we need help, and proclaim Him our (your) Redeemer and Savior, then you’re in! It’s that simple!

Yes, it really is that simple! Simple for us. We just have to get out of our own way and start seeking what it is that God has in mind for us (Jeremiah 29:11). And as simple as it is for us, it was simple for God to do. It pained Him to have to come and die for us, but He loves us so much that it was a simple decision to make.

As creator, He gets to make the rules and He made the rules very severe. So severe, that He knew no one could pay the price for breaking the rules; except Him. He wanted it this way. Then to show how much He loves us, He payed the fine. It blows me away and I believe that it probably does every Christian if they have given it any thought. It sounds crazy, asinine, unbelievable and non-sensible to non-Christians who think (1 Corinthians 1:27), “Why would someone do this”?

But He did! How could someone show that they love you any more than that?!?

So how and where do we fit in? What are we supposed to do? I’m finally getting around to finishing this series of posts up.

We know that we couldn’t do anything on our own. We couldn’t help God do this. He had to do this. We have 0% ability in being able to help ourselves out of our sinful state that we are (were) in. In a sense, we were just bystanders; we had to just let it happen.

So we accept it. We accept the gift (2 Corinthians 9:15, Ephesians 2:8-9). We accept it just as we are (John 6:37). We don’t wait to clean ourselves up. That would be working for it. We don’t wait until we get it right. That would be working for it. We don’t wait until I finish other stuff up in my life; living life the way I want; then accept it later. Besides procrastination, that is just plain stupid (well, in this case anyway; putting laundry off just makes good common sense).

We accept it just as we are right then when we hear the message and believe it (Acts 2:38). Then we start the work. It’s not the work that saves us; that work has already been done. It’s work that makes us better; makes us someone that God can be proud of. Work that helps us to understand God. And we have to work with what God has given us…  to help spread the knowledge of His love to others.

We come (came) as we were when we hear (heard) and believe(d). Our yucky selves. Then we start the work of building the relationship with God that He wants us all to have. We do this through studying the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16-17), regularly attending church congregations (,Hebrews 10:25) and getting involved in Bible study’s (Luke 11:9) and small groups. And we do this especially through prayer (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

Prayer is essential (Jeremiah 29:12). Prayer is how we talk with God (Jeremiah 33:3). You don’t have to learn how to pray before you can start praying and talking with God. God promises that He sends His Spirit to indwell within us. And that this Spirit will help with the communication (Romans 8:26-27). Rest assured, God will hear you and understand you. God knows everything. The help with the communication is for hearing and understanding what God is saying to you (see, He has it all covered).

So our part in this is to study up on God. Understand Him (as best as we humans can with our finite minds). Have a relationship with Him. And to spread the Gospel (word) (Acts 1:8)that God loves everyone and wants to spend eternity with them.

 

That’s it! We go from being at war with God, to participating in His plan. Participating in His glory for eternity. How cool is that!?!