The start of a new year causes many people to reflect on times past and things to come. Promises and resolutions are made and unfortunately many of them not kept. I guess I fall in with the rest of them. My last blog touted my desire to read Crazy Love by Francis Chan and share my thoughts as best I could. Well the book was waiting for me when I got home and I read the preface, introduction, and Chapter One and was totally blown away. The words and imagery of Chan showed me how very, very small I am (all of us) and how very, very large God is. Having said that, it has taken me nearly two weeks move through the fog and worship my Lord.
The title of Chapter One is "Stop Praying." Kind of a sacrilegious title for a book depicting God's love for you and I. Basically the material deals with how the modern church has forgotten how awesome God is in creation and has placed Him into the buildings we call churches and check marks on our to do lists. We've been taught to pray these rote prayers and never really grasp the righteousness of God. Never really having the reverent fear desired by Him. The following is a just a smidgen of what Chan shares regarding God and creation and then there's five attributes of God we need to grasp before we can really approach the throne.
Years ago the comedian Arsinio Hall was on late night and had a segment called, "Things That Make You Go Hmmm?." When you think about our planet, the galaxy, life in general, the "things that make you go hmmm" are unmeasurable. It's in these things we find the attributes of God. The Apostle Paul wrote "For since the creation of world His invisible attributes, His eternal power, have been clearly seen..." and we wasn't kidding. Think about the planet Earth for a second. Here we are spinning around, fast enough to thrown off and yet gravity holds us down. The Earth itself is in orbit around the Sun and any change at all in the orbit would cause all life to die. How about our solar system, our galaxy, the other 350,000,000,000 galaxies out there? Saying "Hmmm" yet? Did you know the caterpillar has 228 separate and distinct muscles in its brain? How about the fact that the average elm tree will have approximately 6 million leaves on it at one time? Don't even ask about a pine tree...I accumulate at least 20 bags of pine straw each time home. How about the fact there's 3000 different species of trees within one square mile of Amazon jungle? How about the human body? Reproduction and child birth? Finger prints and none are the same? HMMM!
The list goes on and on. It's not until we see God for who He is and what He has done and is doing we realize our position and are able to approach Him with deep, sincere humility. Let's take a look at the five attributes of God asserted by Chan in Chapter One.
God is Holy. I suppose that would be the most important attribute and regardless of what we think about God his holiness sets Him apart from everything else. "Holy" means to set apart and because of God's "set apart-ness" there's no way we can fathom all who he is. That used to bother me. The fact my peanut sized brain can't grasp the enormity of God and all he is. Now I'm kind of glad I can't grasp it and really don't want to.
God is Eternal. Most people would agree with this statement. Everything, everyone, has a beginning and end. There was a moment in time when their existence began. Not God. He outside the limits of time. He has always existed. Can't figure that one out either but isn't that cool?
God is All Knowing. Now that's a scary thought. All of us from time to time have tried to pull the wool over someones eyes. Tried to get away with something. A little secret here a little secret there. That game doesn't fly with God. As big ad God is He still has an interest in us and we can not escape Him. He knows our thoughts before we think them. He knows our deed before we do them. Hebrews 4:13 says, "And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do."
God is All Powerful. There's all kinds of verses in the Bible referring to God's power and how He created everything and how He created them for Himself. Chan points out we have it wrong. We live our lives like we created god, he's here for our purposes, to bless us, almost like we are the god to be worshipped. The fact is God doesn't need you or me and He can do and will do what ever He wants and doesn't have to explain things to anyone.
God is Fare and Just. One definition of justice is "reward and/or penalty for what's deserved." If it were up to us to dispense justice there would be many different answers. But its not up to us because in God's eyes none of us is good enough. The only one who is good is God alone. The fact all of have fallen short of God's glory and are not "good enough" to enter his presence leaves us with a dilemma. The answer to that problem comes in a future chapter.
So, as I try to mesh the awesomeness of God with His desire to have an intimate relationship with me, I'll try to reflect on his glory and holiness when I pray. Prayer will have a whole different look for me now. I hope you enjoyed my thoughts and please feel free to comment.
God Bless,
Vernon
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