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I have been meditating on the book of Job this morning. The book of Job is a lesson on suffering. But, the lesson is not the lesson that we want. When we are suffering we want two things: First, we want the suffering to end. We want a cure. Second, we want to know why………why did the suffering happen…….what can we do to avoid it in the future. The book of Job does not offer much help on these two fronts. God allows suffering. In Job, God turns Satan loose to torment Job. There is no explanation as to why. God ultimately restores Job. But, there still isn’t much in the way of explanation. God doesn’t use Job’s situation as a “teaching moment”.

The lesson of the book of Job, it turns out, is not a lesson for Job. It is a lesson for me…….and you. I’ll get to the lesson in a bit. But, first, I’ll share an experience that looks to me like a metaphor for suffering, Job, and his relationship with God.

I was once a lifeguard. In my teens, I had an unusual amount of sun exposure. And my skin shows it. Because of this, I see a dermatologist once a year for a “spot check”. Over the years I have had 3 or 4 skin cancers removed. This year I saw a new doc…….probably fresh out of his residency. He looked me over……pronounced me clean. But, then, he prescribed a treatment for my face. It was a cancer drug, 5FU, that would pretty much cause my face to “rot off”. In the process this would kill tiny cancers and pre-cancers. After about 5 days, the rotting began. It was awful: sores all over, constant pain, bleeding, and very little sleep. It was at its worst if I tried to talk, smile, yawn, or eat. I did a Google search and found, to my surprise, that the rotting of my face would last a couple of weeks. At that point, I was not very happy with my dermatologist. Today, the rotting is winding down. I am left with a face that is in much better shape than before. My dermatologist…….still not on my “Christmas list”.

This episode looks like a metaphor for the suffering that is a part of daily life. We don’t like to talk about it; but, much of our suffering is either sent by God or, at best, allowed by God. Consider the worst suffering you can recall. God could have prevented it. But, he didn’t. And he doesn’t give us an explanation. Just as he didn’t explain things to Job. God does as he pleases. He promises that he is looking out for us……..but he doesn’t share the details with us.

The lesson is in how we are expected to react to God when we suffer………and God either allowed the suffering………or caused the suffering:

Deny God
Hate God
Trust God
Recognize God’s sovereignty

This is the lesson of the Book of Job:

God does as he pleases…….we don’t get to pass judgement on God’s decisions. We don’t get to challenge God’s sovereignty.

God loves us…..we are required to trust him to look out for our best interests…..in the long run……in an eternal time frame……even when we don’t understand.

Job got it.

Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.

Job’s prayer….after disaster struck, Job 1: 20-22, ESV

I am going to share two episodes in my life. I believe that these episodes are instances when the Holy Spirit spoke to me……..intervened in my life. I believe that these events are evidence of the existence of the Trinity and by association…….that they testify to the truth of the Bible. You can dismiss them as mere coincidence………if you find the Bible inconvenient. I find them to be compelling.

The first episode begins when Cindy and I bought a parcel of land adjacent to our home……8 acres. Several years later, I was sitting in my office…….bored…….I picked up a local newspaper and began reading the legal notices. You need to understand that, in my life, millions of legal notices have been published in the local papers. I had never read any of them. I haven’t read any since. But, that day, I picked up the local paper and randomly read about five legal notices. One of the five announced the sale of a property for non-payment of taxes. The property was near my home and I looked into it, hoping to get a cheap piece of land nearby. You probably guessed. The land that was being sold by the county was my 8 acres……my backyard. Due to a clerical error, the county had never sent me a tax bill. My backyard was saved because, for no obvious reason, I felt moved to read 5 random legal notices out of millions that had been published over the years. Statistically, the probability that my reading that particular legal notice was a random coincidence…….is inconceivable.

The second episode occurred in the same office……in the same chair 10 or 20 years later. I often wake up early. One morning I woke up around 5am. I was sitting in my office browsing through Facebook……..probably out of boredom. I saw a post from a friend. It said that her husband was in the local ICU. I felt moved. I got dressed and drove the 20 miles into town planning to sit with my friend for an hour or so and keep her company. As I walked up to the door of the hospital, she walked out crying. Her husband had just died. I had never before……and have never since…..made a 5am trip to sit in the waiting room of a hospital. I believe that the Holy Spirit saw a need and sent me to answer it for my friend. Coincidence…….I don’t believe so.

In both instances, an extraordinary event unfolded. I cannot attribute either to random chance or coincidence. Something moved me to do something that was extremely unusual and the result was a gift…….one for me……another for a friend. I believe that the thing that touched me…….moved me…….was a word of knowledge from the Holy Spirit. I did not hear a voice. I did not have a vision. What I received was an idea. Fortunately, I acted on those ideas.

And that brings me to the point of this post.

I wonder how many times a day the Holy Spirit sends me an idea. The idea pops into my head and instead of acting on it, I tell myself that the idea is ridiculous……..or too costly……..or too inconvenient.
I wonder how many times a day the Holy Spirit talks to me……sends me an idea……..and I dismiss it with little thought.

How many times a day do I “blow off” the Holy Spirit?

How many times a day do you “blow off” the Holy Spirit?

We tend to think of some people as being “unusually spiritual”. We think that the Holy Spirit talks to them……but not to us. I am beginning to think that this may not be the case. I am beginning to believe that the Holy Spirit talks to us………talks to me……..every day. And…….I fear………that often I ignore it. Often, I hear it but I don’t act on it.

It is entirely possible that the “spiritual” people among us are not spiritual because the Holy Spirit speaks to them more than to us. Perhaps they do a better job of listening and acting.

Hear the idea……..consider the possibility that it is from the Holy Spirit………..act.

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

Jesus explaining how the Holy Spirit “talks” to us, John 16:13, ESV

Why don’t people like God, the father?

The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.

Dawkins, “The God Delusion”

This is an extreme example. Mankind’s reaction to God ranges from unbridled hatred as in the example above to intense love……those who would give up their lives to honor God. Today, I want to explore the middle ground. I’m focusing not only on those who don’t love the father…..I’m concerned with those who don’t even like him. Many of these people are Christians. You may be one of them. Also, I want to focus on one part of the Trinity……God, the father. Jesus…..the kinder face of the Trinity……is easy to like. The Holy Spirit is abstract enough that we generally don’t have strong feelings toward him/her. So……what about God, the father?

I am talking about the God described primarily in the Old Testament. Many people discount some of the things attributed to God in the Old Testament. Many people blame anything bad that happens on Satan……or fallen man……or free will. And that is, no doubt, sometimes the case. But, sometimes, the bad things that happen are the work of God, the father. He either initiates these “bad” things……or at the very least…….he allows them. I believe that the Bible is an accurate description of God, the father. And sometimes we are uncomfortable with the things he has done.

God has a public relations problem…….and not just with atheists and secular humanists……..but, also, with Christrians. We believe in God. We worship God. But, when was the last time that you heard a Christian say, “I really like the father.”

What follows is an attempt to understand this problem. I hope to shed some light on why atheists and secular humanists reject or downplay the father. I hope to shed some light on why Christians focus on Jesus……as we should……but largely shy away from the father.

Reasons why don’t people like God the Father:

         He does bad things to people in general and to me in particular.

         He allows evil to exist in my world.

         His long-range plan includes destruction of the world.

         He allows me and the people I love to die.

         He doesn’t exist……..so I don’t bother with him.

         He threatens me with eternal damnation…….over and over.

         He tells me that I cannot do things that I really want to do.

         He thinks that he is better than me.

         I don’t like his plan for my life.

         I can do a better job of running things than he does.

         He gives me things that I don’t want……and withholds things that I do want.

         I want to be in charge of my life…….and everybody else’s too.

         I want to be God.

You can, no doubt, add to this list. You may find that a few of the items on this list push some of your buttons. Christians…….and atheists/secular humanists as well…….need to deal with this list. Because everything on this list is an impediment to your relationship with God.

So…..

How do we react when God does bad things…….when God misbehaves?

 The first step is to understand how we define “bad things”. It turns out that we typically define “bad things” as things that make us unhappy……in the short run. A loved one dies. We get passed over for a promotion. Someone harms us. If we are honest, we call things bad when they interfere with our short-term happiness. But understand, God does not operate on a short-term time frame. God operates on an eternal time frame. God has a plan that extends far beyond my immediate appetities…….even beyond my legitimate short-term needs.

The next step is to understand our relationship with God. God is sovereign…..and we are subordinate. We are not on the same plane as God and we never will be. God makes the rules. God makes the definitions. Because of his sovereignty……God is right…….by definition. The corollary is that if we disagree with God…….we are wrong. If we object to the Bible……no matter how carefully considered our assessment….no matter how bulletproof our logic……..we are wrong. And we hate that.

This calls for us to accept several points:

Humility and subordination……we are second class beings in God’s world…….we always will be.

Trust…….God is a benign dictator…….he is looking out after our best interests…….both individually and corporately.

Admit our limitations……….we are broken……we are incapable of  running our lives……much less the universe

If we can do these things……….we can someday honestly say:

“I like the Father”……..or better yet……..”I love the Father.”

The moral:

         It’s really easy to like or even love God when he sends blessings into our lives. If God gave Satan free reign over the world…….even Satan would like God. He might even love God.

         The real test comes when God allows or actively sends bad things into our lives. Perhaps there is something that  we desperately want or even need…….and God withholds it.

Try this prayer:

“Father, I love you and I trust you…….I just don’t understand”    

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

God in Isaiah 55: 8-9, ESV

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.

In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.

Job 1: 21-22, ESV

The moral:

         It’s really easy to like or even love God when he sends blessings into our lives. If God gave Satan free reign over the world…….even Satan would like God. He might even love God.

         The real test comes when God allows or actively sends bad things into our lives. Perhaps there is something that  we desperately want or even need…….and God withholds it.

Try this prayer:

“Father, I love you and I trust you…….I just don’t understand”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Imaging a family get together. There is a table, loaded with your favorite foods. Your entire family is there. Your children are running around. Your best friends are there too. The conversation is brilliant. There is laughter, maybe even singing. You are surrounded by the people and things that you love the most in the entire world. The table is in a room that is warm, beautifully decorated for the holidays. Life couldn’t get any better.

Now……imagine that the room, the table, your family, and all of your friends……….are sitting on a railroad track……..and a freight train is barreling down the track in the dark………and you are right in its path.

This is, in fact, the case. The dinner is a metaphor for the human condition. We are all attending a great big party. The natural man, left to his own devices, will eat the food, enjoy the company, ignore the reality outside of the door, and then be completely destroyed. We don’t talk about it very much. But, the simple truth is that in 80 years….or less……we are all going to die. But that’s not even the big problem. For the natural man, death is the best possible case scenario. The alternative to simple uncomplicated death……..is that a part of us, our soul, will live on……..forever. What that forever will look like it this week’s topic.

For the natural man there are several possibilities:

Everything will end….dead black nothing

Life will go on as it is…….but we will be different.

We will spend eternity in an unspeakably horrible place.

We will spend eternity in a very nice place.

We must govern our lives without knowing for certain what lies behind the door. Science offers us nothing…….literally…….dead black nothing. New age thinking offers us many flavors of life going on as it is. We pretty much create an afterlife that suits us. This is great…….as long as we are God. And then we are left with the Bible…….the most widely published and accepted moral code in existence. The Bible offers us heaven and hell……Heaven for those who recognize and honor God…….Hell for everyone else.

As we sit at the table, enjoying good food and good company, this is what lies outside of the room in a few short years:

Nothing

No change

Hell

Heaven

We have very little power or control over what happens when we die. Dead black nothing……..more of the same…….Hell….are all beyond our control.

We can only control one of the variables…….Heaven.

We have an open invitation……..an extraordinarily valuable gift from our creator. Accept it and spend eternity in paradise with a creator who loves you……..in a world governed by love.

Or

You can toss the invitation into the trash. You can take charge. You can take your chances with: Nothing……..No change……..Hell.

In effect, you can enjoy the meal, the conversation, the company……..and ignore the reality that is behind the door…….ignore the reality that will be the entirety of your existence…….in a few short years.

“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul”

Deuteronomy 10:12, ESV

We live in a Democracy……..a country based on the principle that “all men are created equal”. This is a noble idea. There are cultures where this principle does not exist. The most notable culture that operates under a rigid class system is India. Though legally ended in the 50’s, this caste system persists in India and elsewhere. The top level is the Brahmins. The bottom level is the Dahlits…….the untouchables. In a rigid caste system, you are born into a class. There is absolutely nothing that you can do to rise above your station.

The echoes of caste mentality ring down into our American culture. A recent movie, Young Washington, deals with George Washington and his struggle to overcome the British peerage system. Slavery was an accepted part of our culture for a century. It’s stepchild, racism still persists.

The idea that you can be held back by a label that you were assigned at birth offends us. Racist is one of the most damaging slurs that you can apply to another American. Our politicians regularly use it in an attempt to silence anyone who disagrees with them.

And yet.

We live in a universe that is divided into two “castes”. We are born into a caste that we cannot rise above…….no matter how we try. The two castes?

Mankind and God……the Trinity.

How we respond to this reality defines us. How we respond to this reality divides us into two distinct groups……groups that cannot agree on many of the key issues that our culture faces. Even more importantly, how we respond to this reality determines our destiny.

The two groups?

Secular humanism……..and deism……..in my case Christianity.

As a Christian, I accept that there is an entity that operates on an entirely different level……..God. No matter what I do, I will always be a man. I will never be God. I am a second-class citizen of the universe. I accept this reality with humility. I honor and worship a God who operates on a plane that I will never rise up to…….a God who makes the rules: love God…..love each other. I accept the reality that God is in charge and that I am not. I don’t get to “second guess” God.

The secular humanist is so offended by this reality that they deny the existence of a superior being…….a higher power. They deny the existence of a higher “spiritual” plane. They limit their reality to a world where we are all “created equal”……..a world governed by the laws of science. A side effect of this world view is that they get to make the rules…….they are in charge.

Both groups cannot be right.

So…….who is wrong?

There either is a higher “spiritual” plane that is run by God……or…..mankind is the highest plane. What is the evidence?

Mankind does a lot of good. But we also do a lot that is bad:

Drugs

Recreational sex

Untruths

War

Hate

Slavery

Every one of us does things that are just wrong……every day. In our hearts, we know this. The very concept of “right” is clear evidence that our culture is wrong. And we are wrong along with it.

The secular humanist acknowledges this and sets a threshold of “good enough”. The problem is that we typically set this bar just below the level of “goodness” that we operate on. We give ourselves permission to do wrong things……just not too many. We pat ourselves on the back and tell ourselves that we are “good people”. And this is true……..halfway.

The Christian sets the bar much higher. The Christian uses God’s bar of right and wrong. And we fail…….again and again. We strive for a goal that we cannot reach…….without help…….without supernatural help.

To sum it up:

We live in a temporal world of right, wrong, and unattainable perfection. We can either strive for perfection with the supernatural help of God.

Or.

We can deny God and settle for “good enough” on our own.

We can be second class citizens of this broken culture with the hope of one day living with our creator in a perfect world.

Or

We can be the rulers of this imperfect culture……and have nobody to blame but ourselves.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

God explaining the difference, Isaiah 55: 8-9, ESV

I’m dating myself here. For those of you who are much younger than me, Stevie Nicks is a singer/songwriter best known as the front woman for Fleetwood Mac. She is a “spiritual” person…..but probably not a serious Christian. I recently went to a show by a Fleetwood Mac tribute band. It was a great a show. They played “Landslide” and a lyric from that song has been haunting me ever since.

I’ve been ‘fraid of changin’
‘Cause I’ve built my life around you 
But time makes you bolder 
Even children get older 
And I’m gettin’ older, too.

The song is about people coming and going in her life. It is about change and growth. It is not about God. But, there is truth in it.

My life, and yours, is a complicated construct. Like a sculptor, each of us builds this construct around a core. That core is usually a person, often a string of persons. I am blessed with a wife who has stuck with me for almost 50 years. And I can say that I’ve built my life around her. Moreso now than when I was younger.  Cindy has metastatic breast cancer. Change is coming……hopefully not soon. And I am afraid.

I have a friend who has recently walked this path. He is a committed Buddhist and I am pretty sure that, these days, he is building his life around Buddhism. At least, he is using it to lean on.
As for me, when I am in trouble, I go to the Bible. And, the teaching of the Bible is often repeated and is crystal clear. My physical life is transient.  Cindy’s physical life is transient.  Jesus is constant. Jesus is eternal.

I am to build my life around Jesus. 

So, I will build around Jesus………without giving up on Cindy.

The beauty of building around Jesus is constancy. He was, is, and always will be. There is nothing that I can do…….or fail to do….there is nothing that can happen in my world….there is nothing that can befall the people that I love…. that will overcome the strength of the core that Jesus gives me.

I’m still afraid…….of the changes that are coming. But, I will trust God.

I’m still getting older……….getting closer to my death.

But, I’m also getting bolder.

I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.  

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Paul explaining the constancy of Jesus,  Phillipians 4:12-13,  ESV

Everyone enjoys a magician. They perform amazing tricks.  They do things that we cannot understand.  They do things that defy the physical laws that we live by. They amaze us.

But, just exactly, what is magic?

Magic is when we experience something that defies explanation.  When we watch a magician perform, we know that it is all a trick. The more outrageous the trick…….the better the performance.  Still, in our hearts, we know that the magic show is not true. We accept the rule that the laws of science govern everything. Whatever falls inside the rules of science is real. The rest is, at best, entertainment…….at worst, mythology. In practice, we separate our experiences into science and magic. We trust science and we do not trust magic. 

But, there is a problem. 

There are lots of things that we experience that science cannot explain. These experiences fit into our definition of magic. So far, so good. The problem is that while some of them are untrue……..while some of them are tricks……..some of the things that science cannot explain are true. And that is the topic for today. How do we deal with the things that we experience every day that are true but that science cannot explain? How do we handle the magic that we encounter every day…….the magic…….that is true?

The first category of magic that is true is things that we experience that science cannot explain…….yet. Not too long ago, magnetism, antibiotics, and heavier that air flight were magic…..now they are routine.

The second category is things that are true, but that science will never explain. This leads us into the divide that separates mankind into two camps: secular humanism and Creationism. The secular humanists believe that science explains everything….or will soon be able to explain everything. They use theories and assumptions to bridge the gaps that science cannot explain.  They treat and teach these theories and assumptions as facts…….even though they are unproven. In effect, science, as we use it today, is a mixture of measurable fact, unproven assumptions, and evolving theories. Anything that science cannot explain, anything that contradicts the theories and assumptions, is discarded as untrue…….myth. The creationist, on the other hand,  accepts the idea that science has limits……..that there are things that are true but that science cannot and never will explain. Both sides accept the existence of the physical/temporal world. The creationist also accepts the existence of a parallel spiritual universe. The secular humanist rejects the existence of a parallel spiritual universe. 

For the secular humanist, the spiritual world is a myth, a fairy tale that unsophisticated, naive people cling to. 

The secular humanist asks, “does the spiritual world fit into the scientific framework that governs everything?” This, in spite of their admission that the scientific framework is incomplete…….that the scientific framework is, and always has been, full of holes. 

The creationist asks, ” is the spiritual world true……is it real?” The answer to this question requires the creationist to look beyond science…….to the truths that are in our heart and in our soul…..to the truths that were put there by our creator. It also requires us to believe things that cannot be proven by science…….things that must be felt…..things that must be spiritually discerned. This is the realm of faith.

The spiritual world……God’s world……promises blessings. But, in order to enjoy those blessings, we must first satisfy a rock solid, non-negotiable, requirement:

The creationist…….the Christian……must act on faith. The Christian must accept as true ideas and entities that cannot be proven using the limited rules of science. I believe that this is no accident.  This is a requirement of the creator. This is how he set the whole game up. In a way, this physical/temporal life is a pop quiz……a test……to separate those who can act on faith from those who cannot or will not act on faith.

You cannot access and enjoy the blessings of the spiritual world if you are unable to act on faith. This is a rule of the creator……..and it is non-negotiable. 

After all…….it’s his world………both the physical/temporal world and the spiritual world.

This is the truth.


He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his world.

Paul describing Jesus, Collosians 1: 15-20, ESV 


If you would like to hear more about magic…….search the list of prior posts for “Magic Smoke”. 

I recently watched a movie, “A House of Dynamite”. As you might expect, this is not an uplifting movie. The plot line is this: someone fires a nuclear missile at Chicago. We don’t know who or why…..and we cannot stop it. The movies deals with how our government reacts to this unfolding catastrophe. In essence, a huge cast of imperfect people operating on imperfect information must decide whether to initiate nuclear Armageddon. All they know is that there is a very high probability that Chicago will be vaporized in 19 minutes. Even that is not certain.

The theme that runs through the movie is that mankind, in spite of our many triumphs, is operating out of our depth. We cannot solve the big problems. Often, we cannot even identify them. And yet……we forge ahead…….confident in our ability to manage the world. We build weapons that we cannot use. We engineer viruses that we cannot survive. We create waste that we cannot get rid of. We exhaust resources that we cannot replace.

“It is in your nature……to destroy yourselves”

The Terminator

We know in our heart that there can be a world where these problems are solved. We know in our heart that such a world exists. We cry out for that perfected world. But, we fail again and again to achieve it. We fail because we lack the wisdom, the self sacrifice, the integrity, the generosity, and the cooperation to build that world.

The hallmark of this perfected world is love…….and the peace that flows out of that love.

“Then, peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars”

Aquarius by the 5th Demension

Such a world once existed. It is described in the book of Genesis. Even more importantly……..such a world will exist again. That is the promise of Christ……a promise to every human soul……living and dead. If we fearlessly search our heart…….we know this to be true.

Such a world can only be the work of a being who operates on an entirely different level than we do. History teaches us that mankind is not capable of this work. Such a world can only be the work of a supernatural being.

God

Love is the essence of God
Peace flows from God’s love
Hope is what connects us to the promise of God’s Peace.
In our heart…….we know this to be true.

Without God……….there is no peace.

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

Jesus in John 14: 26-27, ESV

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Paul in Phillipians 4:7, ESV

The Trinity is a difficult idea for us to grasp. Three entities who are united and yet distinct.  Father…….Son……..Spirit. I doubt that during my temporal/physical life that I will ever fully understand the Trinity. 

The best tool that I can come up with is to consider the Trinity to be three faces of one entity. In practice, we relate to the Trinity by interacting with one of these faces: sometimes the Father, sometimes the Son, and sometimes the Spirit……but always the Trinity.

In the Old Testament, we are repeatedly told to “fear God”…….that is to fear the Father. We are never told to fear the Son. We are never told to fear the Spirit. Many teachers of Christianity tell us that this usage of the word fear really means to honor and respect God, the Father. Call me a literalist…….but I believe that fear means fear. The key to understanding the idea of fearing the Father hinges on the face of the Trinity that the Father represents.  The post this week is my attempt to understand the three faces of the Trinity…….the Godhead.

Each face of the Trinity embodies the entirety of the Godhead. But, each face of the Trinity also emphasizes one facet of the Trinity.

The Father represents justice. He is the repository of everything that is right. There is no wrongness in the Father. Anything that is wrong is cast away from the Father. But, in my daily walk, I am wrong. Every day, over and over, I think and do things that are unrighteous. Every day, I try……and fail to meet the Father’s standards of righteousness. My unrighteousness separates me from the Father. This is the very definition of sin. The Father’s justice requires my separation from his righteousness. So…..do I fear the Father? Absolutely. I fear the separation that my sin creates between me and the Father’s justice. If the Father and his justice were the only face of the Trinity, my death would be terrifying. 

But, then, there is the Son…..Jesus.

Jesus is the face of the Trinity that represents mercy. At the cross, Jesus suffered to pay the price for my sin…….your’s too. This act is his gift to mankind. This voluntary act erases the separation from the Trinity that our sin has created…….at least for those who recognize and accept it. This rapproachment is summarized by the encounter between Jesus and an adulterous woman whom he had just rescued from justice by stoning.


Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”  She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

John 8:10-11, ESV 


Jesus paid a horrible price to purchase for us the most valuable gift we will ever receive. This act is the very definition of mercy.

And finally, the Spirit, arguably the most difficult face of the Trinity to get a handle on.

For those of us who accept it, the Spirit lives inside of us. The Spirit is the repository of the knowledge of good and evil. It is the source of wisdom to navigate between good and evil. It is our connection with the justice, the mercy, and the love that is the Trinity. For those of us who have accepted the divinity of Jesus and the Father, we experience the wisdom and knowledge of the Spirit. We may not always act on that wisdom and knowledge.  But, we know it. For those of us who do not accept the divinity of Jesus and the Father……is it any wonder that you lack the wisdom and knowledge of the Spirit? Is it any wonder that you fill that void with your own limited wisdom and knowledge……..wisdom and knowledge that is heavily contaminated by your appetites? In our daily life, the wisdom and knowledge of the Spirit is essential to our success……..indeed to our survival. 

Each face of the Trinity is essential.  Together, they constitute a whole.  You cannot understand Christianity until you deal with all three. 


according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:

May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

1 Peter 1:2, ESV  

What is the most valuable commodity in the universe? There are as many opinions as there are people. Perhaps the best way to judge the value of something for a given person is to consider what they do. This is a far more reliable indicator than what they say. Each of us has resources. Some of us have a lot. Some of us have very little. But, for all of us, the universe of what we want is much bigger than the universe of what we have in terms of resources. This is a simple truth that every child learns before kindergarten. In spite of what the influencers tell us……..we cannot “have it all”.

And so we prioritize. Some things we pursue. Other things we let go. For each of us, at the top of the pyramid of our desires, there is one thing that we would trade everything else for. For each of us, that thing is the most valuable commodity in the universe. For each of us, that thing is our primary appetite.

A brief and incomplete list of candidates:

Career
Money
Prestige
Power
A big house
A nice car
Land
A rare collectible
Sex
Recreational drugs/alcohol…….addiction
Thrills

If you sort through the people that you have encountered, you can probably name someone who is pursuing something on this list. In my life, I have spent time pursuing several of these things……..not all of them……..but some.

Because of our limited resources and the reality of prioritization, there are things that we neglect in order to pursue our primary appetite. In my life, I went through a phase that I think of as my “empire building phase.” During this phase, I doggedly pursued some of the things at the top of the list. In the process, I didn’t take care of my family as well as I should have. From where I stand today at age 73, I can see that my primary appetite was misplaced. The “most valuable thing” was not on my list…….not even on my radar. I succeeded in my career. But, my family paid a price…….and so did I.

I am now convinced that the most valuable commodity in the universe……the thing that I failed to pursue for years………is love.

This should come as no surprise. Each of us is created in the image of God. Love is God’s defining characteristic. The need to love and be loved is written on our hearts. It was put there by our creator. Any time that we give some other appetite priority over love, we do harm. We harm others. We harm ourselves.

It is no accident that the core commands of the Bible and of Christianity deal with love:

Love God

Love everyone else

Even within the category of love, we must prioritize.

First….love God

Then……love everyone else

It is not hard to find, among Christians, someone who has given other ideas…….other commands……..priority over love.

But, the appetites of others are not my primary concern. I will deal with those appetites after I have perfected love in my life.

And I have a long way to go.

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Jesus summarizing Christianity in Mathew 22: 37-40, ESV

“What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor: that is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary; go and learn it”

Hillel, the elder