A All Powerful God

A.W. Tozer writes, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.… Worship is pure our base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God. For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like.”  If what Tozer writes is true then the question is what do you think about God, how do you see God, picture God?  Do you take in for account that He is an all-powerful God who created this earth and this universe?  A God that loved us so much that He gave us His son so that our sins are forgiven.  Do you remember that we serve a God who hates sin?  I have forgotten how important our view on God effects how we worship Him, the next part of this series on how are we to act as Christ followers/Christians, I want to focus on how we should view God.  The first part being God the all-powerful, followed by Gods glory, then the Holiness of God.

Let us pause for a minute and think of the powerful person you may know or know of, now I ask you a simple question can that person speak something into being?  No, no one can do that, but that is exactly what God did.  We read in Genius chapter one that out of nothing God spoke it into being, take note that in Genius chapter two when we read of the creation of man, God formed us and then breathed life into us, His tender love and care for man runs deep even in our creation we were not simply spoken into being as was everything else.  As we look at all the complexities that go into this earth, in just the laws of gravity alone, not to mention how complex each living animal is for God to just speak it into being is mind numbing.  I can’t even train my dog to sit on command all the time and God speaks and a whole galaxy is created.   Yet we forget that the most powerful words we will hear God speak will come after we die.

We must remember that God is also the all-powerful Judge we do not get to question His judgment, yet do we not live as if we get to question God?  As if we have forgotten that He is the great and mighty creator, Colossians 1:16 tells us “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.”  Does that sound like a God who’s saying it is ok to question His authority, it is ok to go and do whatever you please and makes you happy, even if that means living a life that includes sin?  It doesn’t sound like it to me, it sounds as though we serve a God that created us so that we could honor and please Him.  Yet many times we forget He can do whatever He wants.  We live as if God owes us something, that He needs to give us what we want and that pleases us. We need to understand that we are to give our lives to God, He sent His son to die on a cross so that we could one: be forgiven of our sins, two: so we could live for Him glorifying His name.  Read the Colossians 1:3-17, see what Paul is praying for them, that they receive wisdom, grow in faith and honor God. 

In his book Crazy Love Francis Chan reminds us that it’s not our place to question God. ” Psalm 115:3 reveals, “Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.” Yet we keep on questioning Him: “Why did You make me with this body, instead of that one?” “Why are so many people dying of starvation?” “Why are there so many planets with nothing living on them?” “Why is my family so messed up?” “Why don’t You make Yourself more obvious to the people who need You?” The answer to each of these questions is simply this: because He’s God. He has more of a right to ask us why so many people are starving. As much as we want God to explain himself to us, His creation, we are in no place to demand that He give an account to us. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?” —Daniel 4:35 Can you worship a God who isn’t obligated to explain His actions to you? Could it be your arrogance that makes you think God owes you an explanation? Do you really believe that compared to God, “all the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing,” including you?”

All this brings up the question is God’s justice fair then?  If we look at justice as receiving what one deserves for one actions, then we must ask ourselves do I want what I deserve?  Gods hates all sin, and he punishes those who sin.  His hate for sin is the reason for the cross, His Son went to the cross, was beaten, mocked, and tortured all so we could be forgiven of sins and come into His family, so that we may have eternal life.  God demands that we follow and obey Him, turn away from our sins, allow the Holy Ghost to enter into us and remove the sin from our lives. Paul explains this in Ephesians 2:1-10, “Once you were dead, doomed forever because of your many sins. ² You used to live just like the rest of the world, full of sin, obeying Satan, the mighty prince of the power of the air. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. ³ All of us used to live that way, following the passions and desires of our evil nature. We were born with an evil nature, and we were under God’s anger just like everyone else.

⁴ But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so very much, ⁵ that even while we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s special favor that you have been saved!) ⁶ For he raised us from the dead along with Christ, and we are seated with him in the heavenly realms—all because we are one with Christ Jesus. ⁷ And so God can always point to us as examples of the incredible wealth of his favor and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us through Christ Jesus.

⁸ God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. ⁹ Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. ¹⁰ For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”   You see when we accept Christ into our lives we are made into a new person that is no longer a part of this sinful world.   

Chan, Francis (2008-05-01). Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God (pp. 31-32). David C Cook. Kindle Edition.