“Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.”
--Come Thy Fount, Robert Robinson
Earlier today, I asked, “Who is God?” The question has been marinating in my head for a few hours and I must say (surprise!) that I do not have an answer. I will probably never have an answer of who God completely is. Again, this is part of the Divine Mystery. While I cannot begin to describe the bigness, the unfailing grace, the power, the wonder of God, I can talk about one of His attributes that I believe is very important for college students to grasp.
God forgives.
We’re going to meet people from all different walks of life here at MSU. We must realize that it is not right, not fair, and foolish to think that every person we encounter will have the same beliefs as us. Not everyone is a white, middle-class Baptist whose parents voted Republican the last 5 elections. It just doesn’t work that way anymore. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with the family background I just described. I just feel that a lot of us (as in myself included, yes, us) superimpose our personalities on others, so that we can better relate to them.
Why are we (again, plural first person, I’m included) instinctively afraid of what is different, what is foreign, what is “wrong”. Talking with one of my friends tonight about people’s past, we realized that there’s no need to harp on past mistakes, because God sure doesn’t. She spoke on the need for forgiveness, because how would we ever be able to have a relationship with God when we are constantly screwing things up, if He did not forgive our sins? It would be an impossible standard to live up to – perfection, that is.
I have a problem. It’s impossible for me to stay mad at someone forever. I get frustrated with people rarely and upon the unusual occasion that someone does manage to legitimately upset me beyond a simple “I’m sorry,” I almost always come back to them first to reconcile the grievance, even if it is several months down the road.
This “problem” is one of the gifts God has given me: the gift of empathy and compassion. I have no qualms about saying confidently that I am a compassionate person and can easily, and almost immediately, put myself in someone’s shoes and feel their pain. I can’t stay mad at you, because I know what it’s like to be outcast, shunned, and the cause of someone’s anger. It’s a sickening feeling on both ends.
The reason I am able to feel this compassion for others, the cause of my general love for humanity, comes from God. This is part of who God is.
God is love. God is compassion. God is forgiveness and mercy and redemption and a second, third, and (insert really big number here) chance. God is all of these things, and He allows some of us to be these things on an imperfect scale.
So the next time you wonder who God is, maybe you can think about what God is to help explain it. I know the only way I can attempt to understand the Creator of the Entire Universe is by simplifying Him in my mind, only to build Him back up in my heart and soul.
The mind cannot comprehend what the soul believes or what the heart feels.
Thought of the Moment: None is perfect. None is any more “worthy” to enter the Kingdom of God than the next. God forgives and God accepts. Shouldn’t we?
Matthew 20: 29-34 – Jesus’ compassion.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
From I AM to who am I?
“God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’”
That simple statement spoken directly to Moses by the Lord of the Universe have baffled me for years. When I first read it, the all-knowing little kid known as Ben raised his hand in objection. It didn’t make any sense. It wasn’t even proper grammar. How could you define an entity with its own name?
Perhaps it is easier to ask, “Who am I?”, before asking “Who is I AM?”. While we need to have a personal relationship with our Creator, there are parts of the Divine Mystery that we as humans will just never understand, or come close to understanding. Hence, “mystery”.
Humans are much easier to understand right? After all you only have two types: males and females. Then within those you have adults and children. After that it’s really easy, because you just have to divide those four groups into babies, toddlers, children, preteens, teenagers, young adults, slightly older young-adults, the middle-aged, those nearing retirement age, the elderly, and the “really seasoned veterans”. Simple right? It’s not like we all have different personalities, come from different walks of life, and respond completely differently in the exact same situations. Oh wait….. we do. And God is responsible for it all.
In Genesis 1, God says, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over [every living thing].”
The most important part of that verse is, “our image”, because it tells us a lot about God and about ourselves. It tells us that God is multiple entities. In my opinion, this is the first introduction of the Trinity. It also tells us that God wanted to create mankind. He has no need for us to carry out His will, and there is nothing we as humans can do that would ever be good enough for God. Yet somehow, He wanted us here, and so God created man in his own image. Say those last 4 words out loud “in. his. own. image.” We are His most perfect and cherished creation. Want more proof?
Psalm 8 talks about the Divine Majesty and how we fit in to God’s creation: (verses 1-6a)
“O LORD, our Soverign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger.
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor. You have given them dominion over the works of your hands…”
God, who breathed into being the entire universe, made US in His image, and made US a little lower than himself; we are His most valued creation. We are more beautiful than the purest of white doves, more awe-inspiring than the snow on top of Mount Everest, more amazing than the sun giving way to the horizon off the coast of California. We are the most incredible thing that God, the Creator of the Entire Universe, has ever imagined. That is who we are.
Thought of the Moment: Why would we ever expect anything less than the best of ourselves, when, after all, we are His best?
Psalm 8, Psalm 84, Genesis 1 – God’s Kingdom
That simple statement spoken directly to Moses by the Lord of the Universe have baffled me for years. When I first read it, the all-knowing little kid known as Ben raised his hand in objection. It didn’t make any sense. It wasn’t even proper grammar. How could you define an entity with its own name?
Perhaps it is easier to ask, “Who am I?”, before asking “Who is I AM?”. While we need to have a personal relationship with our Creator, there are parts of the Divine Mystery that we as humans will just never understand, or come close to understanding. Hence, “mystery”.
Humans are much easier to understand right? After all you only have two types: males and females. Then within those you have adults and children. After that it’s really easy, because you just have to divide those four groups into babies, toddlers, children, preteens, teenagers, young adults, slightly older young-adults, the middle-aged, those nearing retirement age, the elderly, and the “really seasoned veterans”. Simple right? It’s not like we all have different personalities, come from different walks of life, and respond completely differently in the exact same situations. Oh wait….. we do. And God is responsible for it all.
In Genesis 1, God says, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over [every living thing].”
The most important part of that verse is, “our image”, because it tells us a lot about God and about ourselves. It tells us that God is multiple entities. In my opinion, this is the first introduction of the Trinity. It also tells us that God wanted to create mankind. He has no need for us to carry out His will, and there is nothing we as humans can do that would ever be good enough for God. Yet somehow, He wanted us here, and so God created man in his own image. Say those last 4 words out loud “in. his. own. image.” We are His most perfect and cherished creation. Want more proof?
Psalm 8 talks about the Divine Majesty and how we fit in to God’s creation: (verses 1-6a)
“O LORD, our Soverign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger.
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor. You have given them dominion over the works of your hands…”
God, who breathed into being the entire universe, made US in His image, and made US a little lower than himself; we are His most valued creation. We are more beautiful than the purest of white doves, more awe-inspiring than the snow on top of Mount Everest, more amazing than the sun giving way to the horizon off the coast of California. We are the most incredible thing that God, the Creator of the Entire Universe, has ever imagined. That is who we are.
Thought of the Moment: Why would we ever expect anything less than the best of ourselves, when, after all, we are His best?
Psalm 8, Psalm 84, Genesis 1 – God’s Kingdom
An Introduction
“All are worn down, the time for sleep is now, but it’s nothing to cry about..”
--Death Cab for Cutie
I can’t help but think about the lyric above and the song it comes from, “I’ll Follow You Into The Dark”, as I write this evening. Admittedly, it’s very late, but this is the time I begin to think, ponder and wrestle with God and His plans for me. Some of you reading this may know of my current situation. I am in the middle of what would be the fall semester of my third year at Mississippi State. I am not in Starkville, MS. I am home in Long Beach.
The decision to come home was not an easy or noble one on my part as many of you might think. I went kicking and screaming the entire way and I have just recently accepted fully the fact that I will not be permanently returning to MSU before (at the earliest) January of 2011. My parents demanded that I come home after several days of being unable to reach me this summer while I was getting fired and not re-applying to MSU. I had dropped the final ball, and it was time to come home and face the music. It was time to grow up and be a man, not a boy, of God.
I’m a people person by nature. I love being around people, interacting with people, watching people and, most of all, talking to and with people. This includes writing, which is why I think I will declare journalism as my final choice of major in January. I say of all this to talk about the reason for this blog. I have to have an outlet. Some of you have dealt with my whining over texts and calls these past 3 months and I do appreciate that. I will continue to engage in those points of contact. However, I find myself wanting to say things that a lot of people will hear. Maybe some of you will be able to avoid the same mistakes I made. Maybe some of you would care to offer some advice, or weigh in on topics that I’ll bring up. Maybe some of you are bored to tears and need another fool’s writing to read. Whatever the reason, I’m glad you’re here.
I won’t start us off for too much tonight; this was more about me remembering the sensation of writing with a purpose again, as well as introducing myself to the blog. Surely more is to come in the next hours, days and months, so I will leave us for now.
Thought of the Moment: If we believe in a perfect and sovereign God, who never loses control and works everything according to His will, then why do we complain so much?
Exodus 4: 10-17 – Moses’ excuse, God’s response.
--Death Cab for Cutie
I can’t help but think about the lyric above and the song it comes from, “I’ll Follow You Into The Dark”, as I write this evening. Admittedly, it’s very late, but this is the time I begin to think, ponder and wrestle with God and His plans for me. Some of you reading this may know of my current situation. I am in the middle of what would be the fall semester of my third year at Mississippi State. I am not in Starkville, MS. I am home in Long Beach.
The decision to come home was not an easy or noble one on my part as many of you might think. I went kicking and screaming the entire way and I have just recently accepted fully the fact that I will not be permanently returning to MSU before (at the earliest) January of 2011. My parents demanded that I come home after several days of being unable to reach me this summer while I was getting fired and not re-applying to MSU. I had dropped the final ball, and it was time to come home and face the music. It was time to grow up and be a man, not a boy, of God.
I’m a people person by nature. I love being around people, interacting with people, watching people and, most of all, talking to and with people. This includes writing, which is why I think I will declare journalism as my final choice of major in January. I say of all this to talk about the reason for this blog. I have to have an outlet. Some of you have dealt with my whining over texts and calls these past 3 months and I do appreciate that. I will continue to engage in those points of contact. However, I find myself wanting to say things that a lot of people will hear. Maybe some of you will be able to avoid the same mistakes I made. Maybe some of you would care to offer some advice, or weigh in on topics that I’ll bring up. Maybe some of you are bored to tears and need another fool’s writing to read. Whatever the reason, I’m glad you’re here.
I won’t start us off for too much tonight; this was more about me remembering the sensation of writing with a purpose again, as well as introducing myself to the blog. Surely more is to come in the next hours, days and months, so I will leave us for now.
Thought of the Moment: If we believe in a perfect and sovereign God, who never loses control and works everything according to His will, then why do we complain so much?
Exodus 4: 10-17 – Moses’ excuse, God’s response.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)