I believe God is the most supremely happy being in the Universe. He has never lacked in anything, and He has always been completely satisfied and fulfilled in His triune-relationship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God has never been in want or in need. He is ultimately satisfied in Himself and he is the only one who can do so.
He lacks nothing and He is always joyful.
Yet, is it possible for God to become even happier? I believe so; for just as he is grieved by sin and the damage we do to one another, and our rebellion against his good rule, he is overjoyed when we turn to him in faith, love, an repentance. There may be no clearer image of God's joy than in Luke 15, when Jesus describes the courts of heaven at the return of a sinner to relationship with God:
"Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:10 NKJV)
I've always read this passage and imagined that it was the angels rejoicing before God, but that is not what the passage says. It states there is "rejoicing in the PRESENCE of the angels". So then, who is the One in the presence of the angels? Who is the One rejoicing? It appears that the God who made you and me, though we rebel against Him by nature and by choice, celebrates and rejoices before the Host of Heaven whenever we repent and return to Him.
When you return to your Heavenly Father through faith in His Son, you fill the halls of Heaven with happiness.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Monday, August 6, 2012
Worshiping the God Who Trumps Religion
And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.
Now that day was the Sabbath.
So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed." But he answered them, "The man who healed me, that man said to me, 'Take up your bed, and walk.'" (John 5:9-11 ESV)
I love the way this verse so powerfully illustrates the 'newness' of following Jesus. Christ's healing of the lame man on a Sabbath and his command to pack up his bed and walk blew away the legalism that surrounded him. It shows following Jesus is more than adding more religious baggage...it's following a person. The healed man didn't have a new religious system...he had a Savior.
Jesus turns religion and worship on its head. Instead of doing our best to check the blocks and impress God with our goodness, we simply need to respond to the One who has come to us in our lameness and inability to heal us. When we encounter Jesus as He really is, we stop worrying about other's criticism, and we point with confidence to the One who told us to "get up an walk."
The power of Jesus and His word trump EVERYTHING else.
Now that day was the Sabbath.
So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed." But he answered them, "The man who healed me, that man said to me, 'Take up your bed, and walk.'" (John 5:9-11 ESV)
I love the way this verse so powerfully illustrates the 'newness' of following Jesus. Christ's healing of the lame man on a Sabbath and his command to pack up his bed and walk blew away the legalism that surrounded him. It shows following Jesus is more than adding more religious baggage...it's following a person. The healed man didn't have a new religious system...he had a Savior.
Jesus turns religion and worship on its head. Instead of doing our best to check the blocks and impress God with our goodness, we simply need to respond to the One who has come to us in our lameness and inability to heal us. When we encounter Jesus as He really is, we stop worrying about other's criticism, and we point with confidence to the One who told us to "get up an walk."
The power of Jesus and His word trump EVERYTHING else.
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