I mentioned last December, when I reviewed The Lord’s Supper: Five Views edited by Gordon Smith, that I had let my theological muscles grow flabby from misuse. I’ve also noticed, in my jaunts around the bookie blog-o-sphere, that my reading is lacking in one area: I don’t read much on God, on doctrine, on theology. What’s more, while I think for a living as a dietitian, a graduate student, and a teaching assistant, there’s one thing I’ve somehow stopped thinking about. I’ve stopped thinking about God.
I didn’t make any New Year’s Resolutions this year, but I have developed a goal of sorts, an emphasis for the year. I want to think about God this year. I want to exercise my mind towards the things of God. I want my mind to be renewed, my thoughts to be transformed by His thoughts. I want to become theologically buff.
So I’ve been reading, I’ve been listening, I’ve been digging in Scripture. And I’ve been thinking.
I can’t say that my thoughts are anything profound, but I’ve enjoyed trying to wrap my mind around the greatness of God, His mercy, His nature, His character. I’ve enjoyed thinking about God.
One night, I could barely sleep because I was thinking so much–and because I kept rolling over to turn on my bedside lamp so I could jot down a new thought. I figured I’d share a little of my late-night musings about God with you.
On God delighting in Himself:
We say that God delights in truth, but since God is truth (John 14:7), isn’t this the same as to say that God delights in Himself?
On purpose:
God has a purpose in what He does, but He cannot or does not have purpose in who He is. Unlike man, God is not created. He was not created to fulfill a specific function, as man was.
God has no purpose for existing except that He is. His purpose is simply to be who He is.
A non-created being is not a “functional item” designed for a specific purpose. He just is–and everything else, every created being, derives its function from who He is.
Because we are created beings, we have a specific reason for our existence. We exist for a specific purpose set by our creator (for His glory, to display His image.) God, however, was not created. He has reasons for doing things–but not a reason for existing. He simply exists. He is.
Therefore, the purposes of God in what He does are not linked to a higher goal, per se, but to His nature. He acts as an overflow of who He is and to reveal Himself. Because His “function”, His “purpose” is “to be”. I am, He calls Himself. He is not the rain god, the sun god, the moon god. He is. He is not defined by a function, but by His being.
I have a purpose for being. God just is.
He is because He is. I am because He is. He is the purpose, the meaning behind all that is–including Himself. His reason for existing? To be. He exists because He exists.
So why does God act as He does? He acts out of His reason for existing “I am”. He acts as He does because of who He is, and in order to reveal who He is.
It’s nothing profound. It’s certainly nothing polished–just the musings of a girl whose mind is coming out of its sleep. Just the musings of a mind newly awakened to explore the depths of her Lord.
My mind was made to behold His glory. He is to be beheld. How delightful to let my mind begin to fulfill its purpose. And, as the card on my wall says “When anything in creation fulfills its purpose, it brings glory to God.” And that is indeed my ultimate purpose–to bring glory to God with every fiber of my being, including my mind.