The Lord lives!” declares David.¹ I believe and know that He does. If I could share a message with everyone about Him, I would want them to know these three things about God.
1. God is the Creator and Sustainer of life! “Scientists themselves who calculate the odds of the universe coming into existence by accident suggest such boggling figures as one in 1060. . . Stephen Hawking admits that if the rate of expansion one second after the big bang had varied by even one parti a hundred thousand million million, the universe would have recollapsed. . . . Confronted with the staggering odds against random existence Richard Dawkins simply shrugs and says, “Well, we’re here, aren’t we?” ² We are here and our very existence and the majesty and beauty of this created world leaves man without excuse.³ It takes more faith to believe in evolution than God!
When we understand that God is the Creator of all things it gives purpose, meaning, and value to life itself. It explains the great question of origin, and bestows upon man honor and accountability. God didn’t just start it all and then step back, but He is the sustainer of life. We have our very existence to this moment in Him. Paul says it is in Him we live, move, and have our very being.4
2. God is God, and they are not! The book of Job tells the story of a righteous patriarch who suffered greatly. He suffered at the hand of Satan, but was presented to Satan by God. God ultimately receives the blame for what Job suffered.5 Job takes his complaints to God and accuses God of mismanaging the Universe; ruling it improperly. God comes and answers Job with a series of questions which he cannot answer about the created world. The point is God is in charge of the Universe and man has no true platform to accuse God of mismanaging it. God is God and our role is trust and submit to God.
The New Age movement focuses on the god within. Pseudo Christian teachers preach a God of health and prosperity. Both are way off! If I could share some knowledge about God with everyone it would be that we all need to realize God is sovereign and all-powerful. He is a God of justice, holiness, and wrath. He is a jealous God who demands our loyalty, love, and obedience. He doesn’t owe us explanations or answers, but He is worthy of our trust and devotion. He is God and we are not, there is something reassuring about that, because we are certainly broken.
3. God loves them. Finally, I wish everyone knew that God loved them. Deep within the heart of every person is the desire to be loved. There is also a hunger for eternity; for something more than this physical world. There is a knowledge of right and wrong. Thus, within all of us is a feeling of guilt and failure. Put succinctly, there is a desire to be loved. “God is love,” declares the Apostle John. Jesus in the golden text of Scripture says, “God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son. . . .” God loves everyone. God knows every sin that happens in this world, yet he allows this world to continue. He puts up with the child being abused, the drunken husband, the blasphemous atheist all because of His long-suffering patience. He desires that all come to repentance6. He loves us!
I truly believe if everyone knew these three things it would radically change our world. Knowing God changes who we are. It affects how we view ourselves and how we act. I hope you come to know the true and living God. Your depth of understanding of Him should always be deepening and your love for Him should always be widening.
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1 Psalm 18:46
2 Vanishing Grace by Philip Yancey – p. 179
3 Romans 1:19-21
4 – Acts 17:28
5 – Job 42:11
6 – 1 John 4:8; John 3:16; 2 Peter 3:9
