These essays are written in sequence and build on each other. Read the preceding essay here.
We continue with our discussion about the gap in nature between man and God1.
Usually when we want something, it is an expression of a desire to change something in a way beneficial to ourselves.
The exception to this is cases of pure love, such as sometimes when a parent corrects a child, wanting the child to behave better solely for the sake of the child.
This loving-wanting is a relatively rare type of “wanting” in our lives.
God is Love. And He and everything around Him is perfect and has been so since all eternity, before man was created. There is nothing to want in the Nature of God, if we use the human definition of “want”.
Only a higher definition of want that is based on the highest and purest Love, can make sense in the context of the Almighty.
Before Abraham was, I am.
— KJV, John 8:58
Christ said “I am“, not “I was”. Meaning that He exists above time and space, in Eternity.
God is Love, and exists in Eternal Perfection. This Eternal Perfection existed an eternity before human beings were created, and continues to exist independently of human activity.
Therefore none of our actions redound in any way upon God Himself. He exists infinitely far above our human reality – all our human wanting and feelings and emotions.
Therefore if God “wants” something from us, it cannot be because He is lacking something and needs our input; it can only be because it is good for us.
God needs nothing from human beings or any of His creatures – He only gives.
Example: Worship
It is common to hear statements like “God seeks a worshipper”. Such statements are usually made in the context of the following quote:
But the hour cometh, and now is,
— John 4:23
when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth:
for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
In hearing or reading this, many interpret it as something like “God wants to be worshipped and is not happy if he is not worshipped“. This again is the sin of anthropomorphism and is a misinterpretation of The Word.
Such a view drags God down to our level. He becomes merely Super-man; Santa Claus In The Sky, as we discussed in an earlier essay.
If we adjust our mindset correctly to The Word and the Nature of God we may perceive the deeper truth that worship must be something good for the human being and not for God, since He only gives.
This adjusted mindset permits of deeper reflection, and this deeper reflection may lead us to perceive that a higher concept of “worship” than what is generally assumed must be meant by such words.
They that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth
— John 4: 24
We shall return to this and related topics in future.
Today’s Resolution
- In all our thinking and praying, we shall not “humanize” God.
- We shall seek a concept of worship that reflects a pure attitude towards the Love of God.
- For the curious reader the book “Thinking About God” by Stephen Lampe provides an extensive overview of some of the issues raised here. ↩︎
The Word, (Re)Discovered 