Glory, Glory

Glorifying God is an inherent calling for anyone who comes into the body of Christ.  According to Westminster Catechism, the greatest calling of mankind is to “glorify God and enjoy him forever.”  How then, do we best fulfill this great calling? 

      Sure, there are many ways to glorify God.  We glorify him in worship, sharing the gospel, and by obedience to him.  However, all of those “good things” are only good if they are done through faith in God.  Hebrews 11:6 emphatically states, “And without faith it is impossible to please God.” (NIV)  If you think about Abraham, and his righteousness, nothing came separately from his faith.  Genesis 15:6 says, “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” (NIV)   

Notice, the first word after Abram is not righteous, or credit, but rather, Abram believed.  It was through his belief that he was able to be called righteous by God.  Abraham later glorified God through his willingness to sacrifice his only son, and to move his family to a foreign land.  However, those things only glorified God, and pleased him, as Hebrews says, because Abraham believed.  He had faith that God was who He said He was, and would do what He said He would do.  It is our faith in God which allows us to fulfill our greatest calling. ~ Sophia

Hey Einstein!

“Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity states that space is not always the way it appears to us.  Suppose, for example, you did not know the world was round.  Would you think it was?  Probably not.  After all, the earth looks pretty flat all around you.  Thus, you would probably think that the world is flat.  We know that this is not the case, however.  Despite what it looks like from our vantage point, we know the earth is round.”  (Exploring Creation with Physical Science. Wile, Module 11, Pg. 274.)

You may be wondering where I’m going with this.  Well, while I was reading this simplistic explanation of Einstein’s theory in my homework last week, it had me thinking more about theology than science.  This theory reminded me of Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see”. (NIV)  By this definition of faith, we see a direct connection between believing that the world is round, despite our inability to see it for ourselves, and believing in God’s sovereignty, despite our inability to comprehend his plans.  2 Corinthians 4:18 states, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”  Both of these verses biblically illustrate the phrase, mind over matter.  We must hold to the hope of the unseen, and trust God over our vantage point.  So often, we’re seeing the world as a flat surface, devoid of hope past our present circumstance.  We get so bogged down by whatever is right in front of us that we miss out on being able to walk in that close fellowship with God that comes through child-like faith.  Matthew 18:3 reminds us to walk in this faith, “And he said: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Switchfoot mirrors this concept in one of their songs:  Jon Foreman sings, “Belief over misery, I've seen the enemy, and I won't go back, back to how it was.  And I got my heart set on what happens next, I got my eyes wide it's not over yet.”  In conclusion, we must hold to our belief in the truth and faithfulness of God, over the view in front of us, despite what trials come our way.  We cannot go back to our doubt.  There are better things in store! ~ Sophia Wise