A Few Notes

It's been kind of quiet lately, so I thought I would write a bit about what's been on my mind the past few weeks. My church is having a mini-series on the Trinity which has been just wonderful, and God keeps giving me these new and beautiful little insights. It's been thrilling. =D

During this mini-series, the topic of Creation was addressed - why did God create if He was sufficiently satisfied within Himself? The answer is because God was not just sufficiently happy, but overwhelmingly happy. God was so pleased amongst the other Persons of the Trinity that it overflowed into Creation. He was so immensely satisfied that it poured out of Him in creativity and action.

In two weeks, the topic of the sermon is going to be about how we as Christians are to imitate the relationship of the Trinity within our relationships, how we are to show the same kind of love and care for the people around us, how we are always supposed to put others first because we love them. The greatest example we have in our human relationships is marriage. It's the most intimate, the most open, the most complete.

And there's a parallel that only it has. Out of the love and joy of intimacy that God had within the Trinity came Creation. Out of the love and joy of intimacy that two people enjoy within marriage come children. It's the overflow of love, of fully giving one's self to another.

Isn't that incredible? God gave us a tangible example of why He created, and somehow we tend to miss it entirely. Sometimes we even go so far as to think that God was lonely or lacking in some way. God was so much the opposite of lacking and THAT is the entire reason that He created. The whole thing just kind of blows my mind.


Another thing: I was reading a book tonight by Matt Chandler called The Explicit Gospel, and that specific part was on a very familiar topic - the severity of God and how much we deserve it. There was a certain sentence that caught my attention though; he wrote, "And let's be honest: nobody has just a sliver of pride." My first reaction was to give a little laugh to myself in agreement. Pride - it seems to be the all-pervasive sin, the starting point of every other thing. We elevate ourselves above God; we put our desires first; we trust ourselves more.

The next thought was rather a happy one though, something that I've known for a long time, but somehow never thought of in quite this way before: There will be no pride in eternity. There have been many sins that I have struggled with, that I still struggle with, but none so formidable, so stubborn as pride. Pride sneaks in everywhere. Pride appears when all my actions are right, when my words are right. Pride can hide in the most pious of ways.

But one day, it will be gone, rooted out entirely, demolished by the completion of the salvific work that Christ began at Calvary. One day, there will be no more of the Romans 7 struggle. And that inspires all kinds of feeling of joy, longing, and awe.

"What a day that will be
When my Jesus I shall see,
I will look upon His face,
The One Who saved me by His grace
And when He takes me by the hand
And leads me to the Promised Land
What a day, glorious day, that will be!"