When we set up the "rules" for this blog, we decided there was only one, everything written has to point the reader to God. I've been thinking about this idea for a while now, long before we talked about the blog. It's something I need to remind myself of on a personal level, and the older I get the more I am doing that. Back in October 2012 my grandpa told me, "The Church spends too much time trying to do the work of God, and not enough time teaching who God is." In my own life that has been true. I've spent nearly half of my life trying to do the work of God, trying to appease Him and make Him happy by doing things for Him, but that isn't what life is about. Life is not about doing things for God, but knowing God.
I'm in the process of pursuing a couple of Master's degrees, and this past week I read a quote that really hit me and inspired this post. "It is to theology, as such, a matter of entire indifference how long man has existed on the earth." The section of the book was looking at the genealogies in Genesis, and points out that are there to show a line leading to the Messiah, not a complete list of the people in the family tree. The point is not the people, but how God is at work through history to accomplish His will.
Man is made in the image of God, not the other way around. God is the creator, not the creation. Man exists to worship God, not to be served by Him. Theology is the pursuit that every human being is called to, because it is the pursuit of God. The Bible is a book of theology, it serves to tell us who God is. Theology is not concerned with the age of the earth, or the significant impact man leaves on it, because the creation is not the focus. This is all about God.
The Bible begins with God creating, and them making man in His image. There is fellowship and perfect harmony, and then man decides he wants to be in charge, and as he strives to make life about him, he messes everything up. God then goes to work to restore His creation, helping man to refocus on the proper subject. Nothing in this world matters except for how it helps me to grow closer to God.
I've reached an age where I've really started to think about what matters, and the more I do, the more I'm starting to see how everything pales in comparison to God. The older I get the more I'm starting to see the insignificance of the temporal, and I'm starting to put the eternal in its proper place. The book of Philippians has had a huge impact on my life. When as a junior in college I began to really take my faith seriously it was the book that God had me read over and over. The section that most stood out to me was Philippians 3.7-14,
But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
I want to count all things as loss that I may gain Christ. I want to desire to know Him more than I want to pass this class, have fruitful ministry, or live a long productive life. I want to be willing to sacrifice my temporal dreams and desires for the pursuit of righteousness that will draw me closer to God. I want the determined discipline to pursue God.
Life is all about God, and I want my life to be fully committed to knowing Him and making Him known.
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
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