Monday, July 09, 2007

God is Great

It was to show his righteousness at the present time…
(Romans 3:26a – ESV)

Romans 3:25-26 shows the righteousness of God, His ultimate worth and holiness, and the incredible justice and mercy of the Almighty. It gives us reason to see the value of God. This passage proves that Christianity is the true religion, and that our God is God.

No other religion requires perfection and payment for sin at such a high level (the physical death of its own god), which proves in turn that no other religion places such a high value on the holiness of God, which is to say no other religion has a higher conception of God. Holiness, or god-likeness, is what makes God actually God.

No other religion deals with sin in this way, sin isn’t as bad or as big a deal. In every other religion their god is not quite so holy, sin is not quite so bad, therefore mercy is not quite so great, and their god is not quite so beautiful. Of course, atheism doesn’t deal with sin at all but all you have to do is look at the world around you, or in your mirror to see that is no true alternative.

Understanding this will also reform, revitalize and revolutionize the way you worship, and what you are thinking about as you worship. You have probably heard it said that you become like what you worship, and that is true as far as it goes. However, even if you worship the true God, the Christian God, if your conception of God isn’t high enough, no wonder your condition isn’t as high as it ought to be. Not just “I think He’s great”, but fully informed as to why, and able to ponder that mediate on that. Therefore, we want to lift up the name of God as high as we can, today and everyday, not simply with our voices, but in our minds and hearts. We need to raise our conception of God, to see Him as majestic and merciful as He is, in our thoughts. I want you to think great thoughts today. That isn’t an intellectual pursuit it is a spiritual one. I’m talking about a higher way of worship.

When we think of how beautiful He is we tend to think on how thankful we are, and we need to do that, but to do that while focusing on how great He actually is. It is not in what His plan accomplished for us, but what this plan means about God Himself, that is what raises our worship to a new level. Concentrating on the perfections of God is what begins to perfect us.

A renewed mind will lead to a renewed life. Not simply changing our minds about what is right and wrong, and trying to find some key to make us act better, but thinking God’s thoughts after Him, entering into the realm of His majesty as He has shown us in the scriptures, seeing just how valuable God is. My aim is to show forth our God as beautiful as He is, and to get you to think of God with a fuller understanding. If we see Him with an understanding, not a feeling but an understanding of how glorious He is, we will be lifted up towards that glory in our worship. Then we can have more fully deep and developed feelings. Let us endeavor to lift our thoughts upward. Let us discover the highest worship today, let’s talk about why God is great.

5 comments:

donsands said...

"seeing just how valuable God is"

This is an excellent post. Thanks JD.

I long to learn how to live this kind of life. I fall so short.

Anonymous said...

JD said-
Not just “I think He’s great”, but fully informed as to why, and able to ponder that mediate on that...


It's not just about what "I" think; but about "WHO" He is........."God-entrance not "I" entrance.

Keep us on that Highway to Holiness, JD!

Thanks

Even So... said...

We serve the 100% holy God, not the one who says if your good is more than your bad then everything is alright...

Craver Vii said...

What a sweet time of prayer it is when we focus on God's attributes and worship Him without asking for anything in return. I especially love to pray this way while reading from Psalms, praying between the reading of each verse or phrase.

Even So... said...

Selah...