Pleasure in creativity and in God

The source of whatever gives me pleasure can be very selfish, but not always. Because I am created in the image of God the Creator, there are times when I create something and feel a pleasure in both the act of creating and the result. This delight is not about me or about the fact that I made whatever it is, but about delight in the thing that has been created. I could be a little like the way God must feel when He looks at a rose, or a new-born child, or the Rocky Mountains. He is not boasting, just simply delighted.

John Piper wrote a marvelous book on this topic called “The Pleasures of God.” In it, he says that we will be most satisfied in God when we know why God Himself is most satisfied in God. It is not too big a leap to realize that if God takes pleasure in His perfections, we also can take pleasure in the God-like things we do. We are not perfect and whatever we do for God is not perfect, but this pleasure of obedience is far richer and deeper than any other of life’s delights.

Today’s topic is why God saves sinners. I’m thinking that pure pleasure may have something to do with His motivation. Salvation is a God-thing that displays His glory and gives Him great delight.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.” (Ephesians 1:3–6)

Later in this passage, verse 14 says again that our salvation is to the praise of His glory. Lest it cross my mind that this is selfish, I remember that what else can bring joy to a perfect Being? Everything else falls short and it would bring Him down to delight in anything less than perfection — and He alone is that perfection.

He saves sinners for His own glory: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ . . . to the praise of the glory of his grace  . . . that we should be to the praise of his glory . . . unto the praise of his glory.”

I cannot add anything to God but my praise. He is self-sufficient and my words and obedience can glorify His name, pointing others to His majesty. He is a great, all-mighty, all powerful, loving and merciful God.

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Jesus, the psalmist (Psalm 8:1-9) offers a prayer. As I read it, my heart echoes the same praise: “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”

Amen!

Not my will . . .

Human choice intrigues me. What makes one person decide to wear jeans and another to wear cords? Why does one child choose a truck and the other a ball and bat? Preference pops to mind, yet what is behind the preference? I love chocolate, but my husband does not. Why does he say ‘no thanks’ and I will almost always gladly eat it? This one I know the answer; his body reacts to chocolate. He feels sick and does not prefer to feel like that. I could then ask why does he feel sick, but that isn’t about the will.

The Bible has much to say about the will of God and human will. In many instances, God’s will is the easier of the two to understand. He loves us and that motivated Him to send Jesus Christ to save us from our sin. He opens our hearts to the Gospel because He wants us restored to what He created . . .

“Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” (James 1:18)

I have choices to make all along my spiritual journey, but it was the will of God to put me on the path in the first place. Without His loving choice, it would not have happened. He says to me . . .

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience — among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved — and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:1–10)

Dead in sin means being separated from God, unable to connect. My sinful choices were influenced by the “prince of the power of the air” who is the devil. His lies and my inability to hear God kept me making choices based on my sinful desires, just like every person on the planet.

“But God” has to be one of the most exciting phrases in history! Because of His will, He chose mercy instead of wrath. Why? His choice was based on His great love, yet the more I realize what sin deserves, that choice remains an incredible mystery. Grace is amazing, truly amazing, yet it is also a mystery, a kindness, a choice made by God that deepens my love and awe for Him the more I think about it.

While I must willingly repent and yield to the Lord Jesus Christ, and would not experience salvation without cooperating with God and believing Him, my will is not the cause of His grace. Even though ’whosoever will’ may come to Christ and be saved, the Bible is clear that grace draws us. Otherwise, no one has the will to come. In ourselves, we don’t want to nor will we submit to God.

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Jesus, that day when You came into my life, the choice was a total no-brainer. How could I say no to the love and power of God? Your revelation was entirely irresistible. All I could see was the incredible grace of God. I did not deserve it and certainly had nothing in me to be able to earn it. Yet I had absolutely no reason to reject You. My heart filled with glad surrender at the wonder of You — and it still does.

The bottom line

In many instances, I am a bottom line person. I want to know the why of everything. If someone does something odd, I try to learn why they did it to help me understand. Rarely can I dismiss weird or unusual situations without looking for the back story.

The same is true going the other way. If anyone tells me to do something, I want to know the reason for it and what it will accomplish. In mathematics, equations make sense. In life, do this and that will happen must also make sense. Otherwise, why do it?

Principles from the Word of God that offer a bottom line are often prefaced with ‘therefore’ or use ‘since’ followed by ‘then’ or ‘because’ as a heads up. The promises of God might use ‘if’ followed by ‘then’ when they are conditional, but not always. This one has trigger words with a definite bottom line.

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:10–11)

God says that His Word will do what He wants it to do. For instance, because “the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword” it will expose the thoughts and intentions of the heart by dividing soul and spirit. (Hebrews 4:12)

The Word of God is the way that God saves people from sin in the first place. It gets inside the heart and reveals both sin and the Savior. It also acts as a mirror, showing me what I am really like . . .

“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” (James 1:19–25)

By His Word, God shows me what I am like and as I persist in reading it, He shows me what I need to do. The actions prescribed will vary, but they do have a commonality, a bottom line . . .

“Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’” (1 Peter 1:13–16)

While this one is a bit harder to grasp, it is saying that God’s Word is powerful to expose both my ‘former ignorance’ and show me what holiness looks like. It also hints at a bottom line for what happens if I am ‘preparing my mind for action’ and not being ‘conformed to my former ignorance’ . . .

“Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God . . . .” (1 Peter 1:22–23)

The bottom line throughout the Bible story is God’s love and that we love God and love others as ourselves. This is actually only one command since I show my love for God by doing what He tells me to do, and He tells me over and over and in many ways that I am to love others from a pure heart. That pure heart is developed by letting the Word of God have its way in my life.

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Jesus, I feel Your smile and hear You say, “Keep reading, Elsie. Keep studying, and doing what I tell you to do.”

There is such a vibrant connection between the written Word of God and the Living Word of God. Without You, Jesus, I am unable to do anything You say, but You live in my heart. You have made decisions easier as You encourage me to keep my focus on You and Your commands. Thank You for giving me a desire to continually seek the bottom line for all issues and problems, even all gifts and delights— because in all of what challenges, puzzles, or blesses me, the bottom line is always You.

True or false?

Being misunderstood despite all efforts to be clear is particularly frustrating. Sometimes I blame myself for not being a good communicator, and that is even more frustrating. What is worse is when the truth is told and someone accuses you of lying.

Recently, this happened to me. As I read the Bible passages for today, I realized the power of lies in the human mind. No explanation, however clear it might be, can change the mind of someone who rejects truth and lucid reasoning. While it hurts when someone does it to me, I also feel upset when biblical truth is dismissed or even said to be a lie.

Lately I notice how many young people use social media and news channels on the Internet for their sources of information. These are not always reliable nor tested for their dependability. Also, God tells me to be on the alert and discern what I hear. It is dangerous to believe just anything.  

While it hurts when someone says I am telling a lie, it seems to me that when God is spoken of as not being true or relevant, He is more concerned for the one who has misunderstood  or dismissed Him. They have fallen into a trap . . .

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.” (1 John 4:1–3)

Christians talk about the Antichrist as a person who will show up and mesmerize millions of people. The author of my devotional book points out several verses that indicate this antichrist is not a single person but a system or way of thinking that opposes Christ, and that it has been here for a couple thousand years. One of the verses he quotes says . . .

“Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.” (1 John 2:18)

Other passages say things like . . .

“Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming . . . .”

Regardless of whether Antichrist is a system of thought or a single person, the one behind the associated lies is the actual enemy. I need to discern His lies because they are terribly dangerous. He is in the business of deluding people so as to change their eternal destiny. Worse yet, those who believe his lies are in danger from God who can eventually give them over to such horrible delusion.   

“The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

Today, after being attacked by someone who believes a lie about me, I have to remember truth about God, but also truth about myself. I am not telling lies, nor have I done things that this person accuses me of doing. This part of God’s Word is easily personalized to help me understand this attack . . .

I am thankful for those who are beloved by the Lord, because He chose us to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. It was this to which He called us through the Gospel, so that we have obtained the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. We can stand firm and hold to the teaching of God’s Word, either through the Bible or sound preaching. The Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father loves us and gives eternal comfort and good hope through grace. He comforts our hearts and establishes us in every good work and word. (2 Thessalonians 2:1–17)

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Jesus, I cannot change the hearts of those determined to go against You, Your people, and against me personally. But I can trust You to give me grace to deal with it, and perhaps to show mercy to those who are in the grip of a false understanding.

Sharing good news

If ten people were asked the purpose of the church, there could be ten different answers, yet many will agree that the Body of Christ is to share the good news. My hubby like this quote: “At all times, preach the Gospel, and if necessary use words.”

Today’s devotional reading says that “the singular method of biblical evangelism is gospel preaching. When our Lord told us to go into all the world, he did not tell us to entertain the world, to change the world, to provide counseling for the world, to educate the world or to get control of political offices so that we could rule the world.”

Instead, Jesus said . . .

“Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:15–16)

(Just to confirm, the rest of the New Testament is clear that baptism saves no one, but it is first step of obedience to the Lord and therefore a declaration that the person being baptized has been saved.)

Most people begin a letter with Dear . . . but Paul was so intent on preaching the Gospel that he began many of his letters/epistles by declaring or including elements of this grand truth. For example . . .

“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 1:1–7)

Paul commended the church at Rome because they were fulfilling their purpose. He said, “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.” (Romans 1:8) Very soon into his letter, he explained his own reason for proclaiming his faith . . .

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’” (Romans 1:16–17)

Living by faith means talking about the One that I trust, yet also living in such a way that faith is demonstrated. That is, if troubles and trials come, faith keeps me from falling apart. How could I claim to believe in a sovereign God who has good purpose for my life if all may actions failed to affirm it?

Yet the Gospel message is not about me and the way I live. It is about the amazing life and death and resurrection of the Lord, of Jesus Christ and him crucified (1 Corinthians 1:30–2:5).

I love the quote in the devotional from Rowland Hill. He said, “Any message which does not contain the three ‘R’s’ [Ruin by the Fall, Redemption by the blood, and Regeneration by the Holy Spirit] ought never to have been preached.”

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Jesus, You have given me a task to declare the good news, the Gospel, in a simple, clear way. I like those three ‘R’s’ that underscore the fact that God saves sinners through the merits of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. You are blessed. Grant me grace and wisdom as I share with others all that You have done!