God is the same

I spend a lot of time telling people how much they are loved by our Lord and Savior and try to help them know HIM better. I often say when the vertical (the relationship between you and God) is off all of our horizontals (relationships with others) are off. I believe this to be biblical – when Jesus was asked what the greatest commandments were, he responded: “Love the Lord God with your heart, mind and soul and love your neighbor as yourself.” Someone far smarter than me interpreted it this way (maybe David Powlison) and I have found it to be true and very practical.
What does that vertical alignment look like though and how does it get realigned? It is through knowing who God is – not who we imagine or want him to be. Since I have been trying to help others know God better, I just wanted to share what I have been (re)learning about him. God is unchanging. Since he is the same as he was yesterday, he will be the same today and the same tomorrow. That is a really big fact--we say it rather dismissively, but think about it a bit. Who do you know in your life that is consistently the same all of the time? Who isn’t in a great mood one day- sad the next, and even grumpy on another day? Ok, even if it is not daily mercurialness – our moods ebb and flow. Yet God is consistently the same….His character is not dependent on MY mood. This is really critical because in Hebrews it says that I can boldly approach the throne of grace. I don’t have to take God’s ‘spiritual temperature’ first before I enter. I don’t have to timidly tip toe my way towards him to see if he is ‘approachable’ today. It means that if something bizarre happens in my life – God is not mad at me and this new circumstance is NOT his way of getting back at me for something.
We can think this way, can’t we? We can feel as though the circumstances in our lives come from a capricious and arbitrary God – so we respond with petulance, fear and anxiety. But here is the truth – Ephesians 1:3-6 (message – thank you Eugene Peterson) says..
How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He's the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.
The truth is that from the beginning of time he had me in mind, and decided to adopt me into his family through Jesus – and that he took great pleasure in planning this. I love picturing God kind of giggling with delight as he mapped out my life! He wants me to enter a celebration of lavish gift giving by the hand of his beloved Son!
Today does not feel like a celebration – my best friend at work, the one that makes my job tolerable put in his retirement papers. In 3 short weeks he will be gone. What do I choose to believe? To whom will I run? What is the truth?
The truth is that all of what happens in my life is preordained by a righteous loving Father. Because I know Jesus, I am the focus of his love and that these next steps, just like the ones that came before, are part of his plan to make me whole and holy and part of his lavish love! Psalm 54 says: God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me. I am eager for the celebration to begin!