These are the lyrics from one the Beatles most popular songs. Even as you read the words aloud, it is hard not to sing the tune to it.
The Beatles had it right. All you need is love. 1 John 4:8 states that “God is love.” So using a basic algebra equation we can assume that since love is GodGod is love and if all you need is love, then we can also say that all you need is God. And you can be more on target than that.
Even though the Beatles missed the mark on so many other things, they were so close to getting it with this song. Good job John, Paul, Ringo, and George!
Reading through the Bible
from cover-to-cover is something that I always wanted to do, and this year I decided to actually start doing so. I have probably read the entire thing, just
not from beginning to end. The journey has proven to be quite the
adventure.
Every Monday at our staff meetings, we report how many
days we have read during the past week. It is a way we can keep one
another accountable. It also puts in emphasis on the importance of
going to God and Scripture for personal devotion, something we all value as a staff.
Many times when
working for a church, or especially during Bible College, the Bible
just becomes a resource for work or class. There is great value in
that time and research, but reading apart from work and school is
critical to have a good relationship with Jesus.
That being said, my strategy has helped so far. I just decided to read from beginning
to end so that I never sit down and wonder what I am going to read
next. Today I should be finishing 2 Chronicles and moving on to Ezra,
which I am looking forward to.
By reading from the beginning, you can really see the relationship between God and people shift dynamically. God always wants the best for his people, but those people do not always care.
Why write about this? I am not
trying to say that I am better than everyone else because I read
daily. I am writing because I want everyone to know how beneficial it
is to read. There are times that I do not really get what is going
on. And there are times that I am hardly focused. But I have no
doubts that God will bless that time set apart to read Scripture.
Everyone should be in Scripture and prayer day to day. The value is immeasurable.
Last week, our commuity group had some interesting discussion. A question had been asked to one of the parents, “If God loves everyone, does he love Satan?” Not knowing a good response, I decided to contact Matt, the lead minister at Crossroads. He is well versed in matters such as these, especially considering he has a Master’s degree in Theology.
Come to find out, the Bible never states that God loves everyone. It is a myth. In fact, we can read that God does not love everyone in verses such as Psalm 47:5. The wicked are his enemies, and He will deal with them justly.
God is love. 1 John 4:16states that very clearly. This, however, is only one of His many characteristics. Ignoring other characteristics could be considered idol worship. By purposefully being ignorant, one can be in danger of creating a god you want to serve and not serving the one, true God.
God is wrathful. God is just. God is infinite. God is merciful. God is gracious. The list can go on, but I am not 100% sure on all of the details. You would think having a degree from a Bible college would help, but not always.
Because of my lack of knowledge concerning the character of God, I am prompted to do research on the subject. I plan to start by reading a couple books that address the issue. Jack Cottrell’s The Faith Once For All will be a well thought out, scholarly reading. The other is Vintage Jesus by Mark Driscoll. This is more of a light reading, but good material none-the-less (though I do not necessarily agree with his reformed theology).
I am excited to see where God takes me on this new study. Hopefully, in the end (if there ever is an end) I will be able to better articulate the attributes of God the Creator.
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