God and I have had some wonderful conversations lately.  This last Sunday, he told me to study 1 Samuel 8.  OK says I.  This chapter is about the Israelites wanting a king and the price they would pay for having one.  From there my mind wandered to the idea of God vs Man, then to Lonely Robot’s 2015 video "God vs Man," then to how are we related and yet different.  The following are parts of two articles discussing God and the Man of God:

First God:  Because God is a personal Spirit I will seek intimate fellowship with Him.  “I reach out for You.  I thirst for You as parched land thirsts for rain.”  (Psalm 143:6)  Our awesome God is gloriously incomprehensible.  The following are four of the many ways He is beyond our understanding.

God is infinite.  Unlike us, God has no limits or boundaries.  He is not confined to the dimension of space.  His love, holiness, mercy and all His other qualities are unlimited in their scope and expression.

God is self-existent.  Unlike everything else in the entire universe, He had no beginning.  Because He is the Creator, He is the only One who exists outside of the created order.

God is eternal.  He is not bound by the dimension of time.  He created time as a temporary context for His creation.  With God, everything that has ever happened or will ever happen has already occurred within His awareness.  God encompasses all of eternity!

God is self-sufficient.  All creation relies on God for existence, but He has no need for anything.  He does not need our help.  He only offers us the privilege of being involved with Him in the fulfillment of His purposes.

God is gloriously incomprehensible, but He is also a personal God.  Through His infinite love and goodness, He has provided a way for us to have an authentic, personal relationship with Him.  First, God revealed Himself to us in His Word, the Bible.  The Scriptures provide us with a clear description of what God is like and what is important to Him.  Second, God came down from heaven to live on earth.  For 33 years, human beings could observe the incarnate God through their senses as they walked and talked with His Son, Jesus.  Third, God destroyed the barrier of sin and self-centeredness that separated us from our holy God.  His perfect Son, Jesus, died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins.  Fourth, God sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in Christians with His presence.

Our creator God did all this so we could go beyond just knowing about Him.  We can enter into a warm friendship and intimate family relationship with Him.  What a gracious offer and an awesome privilege!  “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”  (Jeremiah 29:13)

Now Man:  The man of God does not swindle or defraud his employer by turning up late for work or spending an hour on the internet during work hours; he doesn’t gossip or slander; he keeps his mind and heart pure by guarding his eyes and ears from the filth of the world; he is the spiritual leader of his family.  He does everything opposite to what the world does or approves of; he goes “against the grain” of society because he knows these things displease God; he considers those who are “disadvantaged” or those rejected by society, those who are lonely or despairing; he is a listener to other people’s problems and does not judge.

Most of all, the man of God understand that when our Lord commanded him to “be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48), he is only able to accomplish that because God enables him to be “holy and blameless in his sight” (Ephesians 1:4) through His power and the indwelling of His Spirit.  On our own, we are incapable of holiness and perfection, but through Christ who strengthens us, we can “do all things”  (Philippians 4:13).  The man of God knows that his new nature is that of the righteousness of Christ which was exchanged for our sinful nature at the cross  (2 Corinthians 5:17; Philippians 3:9).  The final result is that he walks humbly with his God, knowing that he must rely solely upon Him to be able to live to the full and persevere to the end.

Perhaps the Christian today is lacking in these qualities, but this is what relationship is all about: helping those in distress and keeping oneself from being polluted by the world  (James 1:23).  We can have an awareness of all biblical doctrines, we can know all the theological terms, we may be able to translate the Bible from the original Greek and so on, but the principle of Micah 6:8 is the principle that the man of God must follow: act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.

More to follow, but it will not include Lonely Robot’s “Keeping People as Pets.”

Love and Hugs,

Pete