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Does God have self-imposed limitations?
While the Bible teaches us that “with God, all things are possible” (Matt. 19:26), and “with God nothing is impossible” (Luke 1:37), Scripture also teaches that God can and will do nothing that is inconsistent with His holy character or divine essence. God limits Himself for reasons of His own holiness. For instance, the Bible teaches us “in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago …” (Tit. 1:2). Why can’t God lie? Because lying is contrary to His holiness or His perfect character which includes veracity or truthfulness. Further, in Habakkuk 1:13 the prophet wrote, “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong.” Here the Old Testament prophet stated his reason. Tolerating evil (i.e., failing to judge sin or accepting a sinner without a just penalty for the sinners sin) is contrary to God’s perfect righteousness or holy character. In God’s perfect righteousness, he cannot have fellowship with sinfulness; so, in His perfect justice He must judge sin. But God is also perfect love, grace, mercy, and wisdom and in His love, grace, mercy and wisdom He is bound by His own character to provide a solution to the sin problem. In His love and wisdom, He gave us His son. Thus we read in John 3:16-18:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
Related Topics: Theology Proper (God)
Edmond Church Family,
Hope you're having a great week!
We got an Instant Pot for Christmas. It’s great, you
can cook frozen chicken in a matter of minutes, and it’s edible! I even eat
something called Quinoa cooked in this modern multi-cooker, and it actually
tastes good.
The Instant Pot looks like a reinforced crockpot with a
bomb timer slapped on the front of it. Evidently, it cooks using extremely high
pressure. When the timer goes off, and the food is done, we release the
pressure valve and watch as a steady flow of steam spews into the air. Without
removing the pressure, opening the pot would be disastrous.
It appears that some of us are like Instant Pots right
now. After a long year of uncertainty and unforeseen challenges, there seems to
be a lot of pressure building up.
Many of us are just holding it all in and may not even
know it. Unless we have a healthy and safe way to release the pressure, sooner
or later we will explode. Maybe you’ve been there recently.
You lose your patience with a store clerk.
You rant and rave about something unimportant.
You explode at your spouse or child.
You feel a wave of road rage wash over you.
You burst into tears.
You scream and yell. Or just the opposite, you shut
down emotionally.
You say things you later regret.
You react impulsively.
While you may feel better in that instant (see
what I did there?), your actions and words cause damage. Relationships suffer.
People get hurt. Unity and progress are impeded. Damage is done.
Maybe right now is a good time for an honest
self-assessment. How are you doing…how are you really doing?
Do you feel overly stressed? Are you allowing
challenges and adversity to gnaw at you? Are people getting under your skin? Is
there a chance you are stuffing all the anxiety and uncertainty of a
challenging year or a difficult situation deep inside as you try to keep moving
forward?
Sooner or later—unless you deal with the sources and
symptoms of your stress and find a safe way to release the building pressure—you’re
going to explode.
Before you say or do something harmful, please do
something helpful.
Talk to a trusted friend or counselor. Pray, fast, and
participate in other spiritual disciplines. Get moving and get some sleep.
Build in Sabbath rest. But most of all, lean on God.
A short verse in the passage I plan to preach on this
Sunday as we conclude our “Exiles” series tells us, very simply, what to do
with all that pressure, all that stress and all that frustration:
“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for
you” (1 Peter 5:7).
In one short inspired verse of scripture we are told
what to do and why to do it. Recognize the pressure building up inside you and
the burden of stress you are carrying, and let go of it. All of it.
More specifically, give it to God. Let him take it off
your shoulders and out of your heart, and let Him replace it with healing and
hope.
Cast your anxiety on him. That’s the what,
but even more notably, here’s the why: “…because he cares for
you.”
God cares deeply for you. He cares that you are
carrying what feels like the weight of the world. He cares that you are going
through a tough time. God cares that you are hurting, or grieving or
struggling. He cares that you have experienced great loss or that you can’t
seem to catch a break.
He hurts with you and cares for you.
God wants to carry what is weighing you down. Jesus
already bore your greatest burden when he willingly went to the cross. He
removed the sins that separate you from God.
Not only is God’s care for you unmatched, his strength
is unequaled. No burden you are trying to carry is too heavy for him. So give
it to him, and leave it with him. Don’t take it back. You can trust God.
Letting pressure continue to build will only result in
a destructive explosion. God wants to help you, so just let him.
Hope you’ll join us for worship Sunday.
Grace & Peace,
Randy
