Comprehending the incomprehensible

I have recently been struck by the amount of people struggling to understand God. I have read several articles written by people in religious circles, each revolving around a particular issue pertaining to our Lord and Savior which has been particularly difficult for each respective author to understand. (An example of a topic of an article could be the eternal nature of God) Typically, the authors will work through the problem using every form of logic and several historical references and arrive at a conclusion. Unfortunately, I feel that many of these conclusions fall short or attempt to limit God in some way.

These discussions are good. They spur us into productive lines of reasoning and get us thinking deeply on subjects of spirituality. It's important to think about our God and how He relates to us.  Here's the problem as I see it. We have this idea that we must come to a conclusion regardless of whether or not we are capable of coming to the correct conclusion.

Our God is infinite in nature. Has always existed and always will. God created the entire universe, a universe that scientists have yet to find the edge of, in six days. And He created it out of nothing. As a carpenter, I build things all the time. Projects such as bookcases, toy chests, amioures, and end tables have all come out of my small shop. However, I wouldn't even think of starting a project without lumber. I'm not talking about a tree. I need boards cut to a regular thickness and width. I need fasteners, glue and tools. And more often than not, I need a lot more than six days. This is all for something that can be built in my twenty by twenty foot shop. God created a universe out of nothing. And what he made is beautiful beyond compare. Romans 1:20 says For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.


Gods love is unbelievable. Thousands of people go to hell every week because they don't believe it. God loves the worst of us so much that He gave His only Son as a sacrifice for us. Jesus died for the worst rapist and murderer who has ever walked this earth. His love is so infinite that He loves that guy. He loves that guy so much, He wants to spend eternity with him in heaven. I'm not sure I would care to spend a half hour in the same building with him let alone eternity. I most certainly would not give my son as a sacrifice for his sins. I wouldn't sacrifice my son for the best of us. But God did. And His love will be a constant for eternity. 1Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. 2Give thanks to the God of gods, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. Psalms 136:1-2

We are far from infinite. I don't know a single person who would argue with me on this point. In the scope of this universe, we're tiny. For centuries, humankind has struggled to build empires to define themselves and set themselves apart in history. The Egyptians and the Mayans built pyramids. The Greeks built the Parthenon and the Romans, the Colosseum. America is responsible for the Mount Rushmore National Monument. The French, the Eiffel Tower. Every one of these structures is a man made marvel. every one of these is already showing signs of decay, some more than others. No matter how hard we try we can't begin to match Gods creation.

The only conclusion i can come to is this. God is infinite in everything. We are finite in everything. Job 36:26 tells us this. "Look, God is greater than we can understand. His years cannot be counted." For me to try to fully understand God in his infinite nature is live trying to park a Panzer tank in a single car garage. Something is going to break and it's not going to be the tank. Ephesians 2:8 tells us "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God." God calls us to have faith because He knows that He is beyond our comprehension. We don't need to have the answers for everything. 2 Timothy 3:16 says All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. If the Bible doesn't specifically address an issue, there's a good chance I don't need to understand it. This is not to say that we shouldn't seek the answers to the big spiritual questions. We should just be prepared for the possibility that they might be beyond our understanding.

Personally, I would rather follow a God I cannot fully understand. It makes it harder for me to co-occupy His throne.

the circumstances or the man?

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. We've been talking a lot about idols in our church and how they can prevent us from becoming the people God intends us to be. It's been making me think a lot about various situations in my life that have been frustrating me in the last several months; Circumstances that I have found myself in that are completely outside of the realm of my control. I then began to reevaluate what I was asking God for in these different situations. The following are some observations of what I feel I have learned.

The first situation is the ordeal of buying a house. Who would have thought that purchasing a piece of property could be so much trouble and the source of so much frustration? The process was delayed over and over with one frustrating situation after another. Over and over I prayed that God would work this out so that we could get the house and get the situation resolved. I was so frustrated with the way things were going. I just wanted a place to call home. A place for my family to grow. Is that such a bad thing? I prayed over and over for this situation to come to some resolution. It just didn't seem like it was ever going to end.

The second situation was my job. Like many Americans with a degree, I am working a job that requires no education higher than a high school diploma. The work is hard and the days are long. I work with a group of men that are more brawny than brainy, who utilize a vocabulary more colorful than a box of crayolas. I get along with everybody just fine. However, I struggle to see a future for me in this company. I've prayed that God would open a door for me to a job within my field of study. I've prayed for a job closer to home. I've prayed for a job that would pay more. I've prayed for almost any job other than the one I have. This employment situation left me with frustrations above and beyond that of any job I have ever held.

Third... finances... ahh yes, the problem that everything that we need costs money. And the additional problem that your expenses will always rise to meet and sometimes exceed your income. This is not just a theory. This isn't just a business principal. This is in the Bible. Ecclesiastes 5:11 says “When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes?” How can I pray against a Biblical principal? I did anyways. I prayed for a better paying job. I prayed for 'the wisdom to practice good stewardship'. I prayed for the ability to provide for the family that the Lord has blessed me with.

I prayed all these things. All of them good. All of them right. Here's the problem.

I prayed them to fit my agenda. I prayed that God would work my plans out for me. I never asked Him to show me the plans he had for me. He knows the plans he has for me. That's in the Bible too. Jeremiah 29:11... His plans are even good. But I didn't want to give my situations over to Him completely because then, I would have to accept his solutions. I wasn't ready to trust him with that much.

I didn't understand why the creator of the universe couldn't reach down into my life for just a second and work with me a little. All He had to do was adjust a couple little problems for me. That should be easy for the guy who created the world out of nothing in six days, right?

All I wanted from him was to change my circumstances.

God wanted to change me.

God wanted to use my issues to mold me into the man He wants me to become. Like the potter with the clay, He has a vision in His mind of the father/husband/employee/man that he wants to have before him when He pulls me out of the kiln.

How many times to we ask God to remove us from the wheel when we're still a lump of clay, useless and without form? How many times do we complain about the heat when He's firing us in the kiln of life to strengthen us in our relationship with Him? What clay vessel has ever come into existence knowing exactly what it was to become? I'll tell you the answer to the last question. None. Because even the lifeless lump of clay knows better than to think that it could form itself into a beautiful, useful vessel without the potters strong, firm hands.

For now, these situations are still unresolved. That's Okay. I am resolved to allow God to work His supreme will through every one of them. The circumstances that I find myself in are simply the means to an end. I hope that my prayer, from here on out, will be that God changes not the circumstances, but the man in the circumstances. Only then will I become the man he intends for me to be. Only then will I become the means by which He furthers His Kingdom.

not religious...why not?

We’ve all been in this situation…

“hi… my name is ___ I’m a Christian”

“so you’re religious, then?”

“It’s not religion… it’s a relationship”

What does that really mean? Religion as defined by Webster’s dictionary as the service and worship of God or the supernatural: commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance. Is that not what Christianity is? We build our lives around the belief that we are created by,  and therefore held accountable to, a supreme, supernatural and omniscient being to whom we refer to as God. There’s a word that we’ve decided to use to specifically describe our relationship with God. That word is religion. Other belief systems have adopted our term because they wanted to be accountable to a less powerful being based on human traits. However, since our God is eternal, they were forced to pattern their belief system after the one true religion. Does this mean that it is in our best interest to throw the term away entirely? I think not.

                The bible uses several comparisons to help us to understand the nature of our relationship with God. The reason for this is simple. It is impossible for finite beings to fully understand an infinite God. These comparisons are very helpful. However, in our humanity we make applications where applications shouldn’t be made. For instance, if you tell someone that God is your heavenly father, they might assume he’s absent from your life or that he’s abusive. If you claim Him as the eternal judge, they may picture him as one to be paid off for personal gain. If He’s your great physician, he’s an egotistical narcissist who holds control over your well-being. I could go on, but I digress.

                My point is, because of our humanity, our relationship with our savior is extremely hard to describe. He is a being that is full of paradoxes. He’s the Lion of the tribe of Judah and he’s the sacrificial Lamb. He lived a life of a servant so that He could be our sacrifice. He allowed himself to be beaten and perceived as weak, so that we could witness His power for eternity. He cannot abide sin; however He desires a relationship with the sinner. So yes, it is a relationship. However, it is also a religion. What other term can one use to describe an eternal relationship between mere humans and an infinite God who deserves our worship?

                But it’s such an antiquated term, you say. Do you know what else is antiquated? God’s love. God has been the same for an eternity past and will be the same forever. His love existed before time itself. Before he created time for us, He loved us with a love beyond our comprehension. Our lives as Christians are to be lived with Christ as our center. Every decision we make should be made in the context of eternity. We are servants of the most high God. It’s time we accepted the social stigma of being religious.  After all, in the context of eternity…this life is but a vapor.

Salvation Upgrade

A man died and went to heaven. He was greeted at the pearly gates by Saint Peter who was wearing a long sleeved dress shirt, tie and khakis.

“Where’s your robe” he asked jokingly.

Saint Peter chuckled and replied, “It’s casual Friday. Come on into my office while I pull up your account, John.” He continued.

He sat down at a desk and began typing on his celestial computer…

“Hmm, I see you received Jesus as your personal savior when you were twelve years old at summer camp… good… graduated high school… went to college…” there was a long pause.

Peter looked up from the computer with a disappointed look on his face.

“What’s the matter?” John inquired, “Is there something wrong?”

“Well,” Peter explained. “Our records indicate that you did receive Christ as your savior. That’s good. However, as we look into your account further we find that you never upgraded your salvation from the ‘1985 free edition’ to the ‘new millennium full edition’.”

“What does that mean?” John asked in a confused tone.

“Well, since you accepted the free edition and never upgraded, you’re only mostly saved.” Peter explained

“I didn’t realize that I could be mostly saved. I thought it was a free gift that covered all my sins!” John exclaimed.

Peter sighed as he explained “It is a free gift. There are just a few minor requirements as laid out in the fourth book of Maccabees. In order to upgrade to the ‘new millennium full version’ of salvation you would have had to either dedicate your life to the clergy, or die a martyr’s death. And before you ask,” peter added, interrupting Johns next question before he could ask, “the book of Maccabees is in the apocryphal books which the early church decided didn’t make the cut for the Gutenberg Bible. They were right on most of them, but I’m afraid they got one wrong.”

“Well, what does that mean for me now?” John asked dumbfounded.

“It means that you’re saved, but Lucifer still has partial custody.” Peter paused and then continued realizing that John didn’t understand what he was trying to say. “It means that you still go to heaven, but you have to visit hell every second and fourth weekend. By the way… this is the second Friday of the month so… see you Monday.”

Note from the author: it is important for the reader to understand that this short story does not reflect my personal beliefs. It is simply a humorous story intended to get the reader thinking about this… God does not limit his free gift of salvation. Why should we limit our ‘free’ service to Him?

-Scott Henning

Deists?

Deists believe in God but they don't believe he does anything. they believe He created the universe but they don't believe He affects His creation. This allows them to believe in a creator without  believing in accountability.

When it comes to the question of the origins, no one can come up with a good answer on their own. evolution was the only non-inteligent design theory for a long time. It just didn't pan out for a lot of people. Entropy, the science backed belief that nothing ever actually improves, kind of puts a damper on the idea that we evolved from a single celled organism. So, man came up with a way to answer the question of the origins without having to answer to the creator.

Sometimes people take long walks in the woods or through some meadow to commune with nature and find their inner peace. They sit down and let the breeze gently caress their faces. They let go of their problems and their insecurities. They slow down long enough to forget that life isn't going the way they wanted. They leave refreshed and sixty seconds after they re-enter reality, the inner turmoil comes rushing back. They can't figure out why...

You can commune with nature all you want, but if you're not communing with God, you're just laying in the grass.

People go to art galleries and look at the paintings. Each painting has a little card underneath. This card has the title of the painting, the name of the artist and a little snippit about what the artist was feeling at the time. The work of art, beautiful or not, has only a limited amount of emotional value to the patron without a certain amount of context to bring it in to perspective.

Gods creation only means so much without a relationship with Him. If little miss commune with nature had a relationship with her creator, that inner peace would have lasted a little longer.

As christians, our relationship with God allows us to appreciate the creation as a reminder of our creator. God made this world as beautiful as it is to remind us that only He is capable of such creation. Only He is worthy of holding us accountable.

yesterday evening, my girlfriend and i went for a walk. i was struck by the utter beauty of the country in the spring time. there were beautiful purple flowers blossoming in the woods, the leaves were starting to bud out on the trees, there were blossoms decorating the branches of several trees. all on the back drop of a fantastic sunset. i was thinking about how God is in control of everything. He doesn't have to bless us with such beauty, but He chooses to...because He loves to see us happy. He cares about our lives. He has a plan for us...a plan that is better than any plan we could possibly come up with. as i was walking the wooded path, i could only thank God for the plan he has for my life. i'm not always sure what i'm supposed to be doing, but i do know when what i'm doing is the right thing. i can't see beyond my next class or my next meal, but i know that if i let God direct my path, i won't have to. God can step back and see the whole painting, all we have to do is step back and let Him work the brush. my life has been a series of uncertainties all strung together. it's really hard to let go enough to allow God to work in my life, but because i've been working in that area, i'm dating a great girl who loves God, i'm finally serving in the church in a capacity that i feel mostly confident in, and i feel completely confident in my choice of technology. i still struggle with letting go of control, but it's a growing process that is allowing me to learn how to let go. our God cares about our lives. we can take complete comfort in the fact that He's not going to let us down. God cares about the details, even the ones we miss.