“For of him, and through
him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.” Romans 11:36
The carnal man will morph and make God into who
we see him fit to be. Some would make
him merciful, without judgment. Loving, without
righteousness. Therefore, to those who
would take this ideal, God is not God, but god.
To make Him to be what we would have Him to be is to make an idol. To to the individual who would make Him any
less than what he is, he can never be everything that he wants to be. That he should be. Furthermore, you can never be what you should
be to Him. His glory.
The only man who could ever claim he knew God
in his entirety was/is Jesus Christ. He
was with the Father and came from the Father.
He was God in flesh “reconciling the world unto himself.” For us to try to understand the entirety of
God would be impossible. The Almighty
God, the Creator, the Maker of all things is beyond our comprehension. Yet, in his love and mercy, he has made it,
so we are not beyond a relationship with Him.
One of the greatest miracles of the sanctified life is that we can have
a living relationship with Almighty God.
We can have Him, living in us, through the Holy Spirit. He has given us access to His Holy Spirit,
and he has brought to us His Holy Word. Through
the Holy Spirit, working with the reading of His Holy Word we can begin to
experience and understand the character of God.
Not something dictated to us by man, or something we come up with ourselves,
but given from Him. By being in that
fellowship with Him we understand that of him, through him, and to him are
all things (this is true whether we accept it or not, but it is crucial we
do). This means that he is the creator
of life, and the author of death. He is
the bringer of hope, and the bearer of doom.
He is love, he is grace, he is mercy, he is the I AM. His existence is what brought existence. His authority is universal and His providence
absolute. Even to this day, one of the
hardest things for mankind to accept is that they are mankind. A creation that was molded by a Creator,
living in complete subjection under that Creator. We were made in his likeness and image. We were brought into perfect fellowship, we
sinned and desired to be like god; and that desire separated us from God. “It
is by the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed!”
Yet in all our sin and
hopelessness, God in his great love, looked down on His fallen creation and
offered redemption through the blood of Jesus, and fellowship in the giving of
the Holy Spirit. However, in order to enter
this relationship, we must have God in the proper courtship. In holiness, in righteousness, in love, and
in sacrifice. The way he sought us. You cannot love the world, the flesh, yourself,
and have the love of God. You cannot
create god in your own image; you must be created in His! It is a magnificent thing that a fallen man
can be redeemed to live in fellowship with Almighty God, and yet we squabble with
Him over the cost! Where are they that
would say: “Lord, I will have you at any price!” The man or women who is willing to give all
will gain all. Gain God himself, and no
longer will you be an empty vessel parading about in a finite existence. No friend, you will be a sold-out child of
God glorifying Him with an eternal perspective!
The highest estate that any one of us can hope
to attain is that we could bring glory to God.
Not that we build cities or business.
Command armies or countries. Pile
up degrees, and pen novels. It is that
we, this dust and clay, can bring glory to God. If you are living in a hut on the backend of
nowhere, but you are serving God; take courage!
If you have not two dimes to rub together, but you are serving God; take
courage! If you feel like you are alone,
weak, broken, or discouraged, but serving God; take courage! For you are the glory of God!
