God’s Passion for His Glory

Justin Childers:

10 things God has done (or will do) that He specifically says He did for His own glory:

1.      God created us for His glory.

a.      Isaiah 43:6-7: God says, “bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

b.      Isaiah 43:21: God describes His people as: “the people whom I formed for myself, that they might declare my praise.”

2.      God forgives sins for His glory .

a.      Isaiah 43:25:  God says, “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.”

b.      Psalm 25:11:  “For your name’s sake, O LORD, pardon my guilt, for it is great.”

3.      God hardened Pharaoh’s heart for His glory.

a.      Exodus 14:4, 14:17-18: God says, “And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD…And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

b.      Romans 9:17: “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.’”

4.      God will not abandon His people for His glory.

a.      1 Samuel 12:22: “For the LORD will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make you a people for himself.”

5.      God rescued His people from Egypt for His glory.

a.      Psalm 106:7-8: “Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wondrous works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea. Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make known his mighty power.”

6.      Jesus came for the glory of God.

a.      John 12:27-28: Jesus said, “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

b.      John 17:1, 4-5: “When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you…I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.”

c.      Romans 15:8-9: Paul says, “For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.”

7.      God chose us, adopted us, saved us, and sealed us for His glory.

a.      Ephesians 1:3-14: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”

8.      Jesus answers prayers for His glory.

a.      John 14:13: Jesus said, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

9.      God gave the Holy Spirit to us for His glory.

a.      John 16:13-14: Jesus said, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

10.     Jesus is coming again for His glory.

a.      2 Thessalonians 1:9-10: “They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.”

b.      Philippians 2:9-11: “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Jesus is the glory of God

Jesus Christ is the Creator of the universe. Jesus Christ is the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. Jesus Christ, the Person, never had a beginning. He is absolute Reality. He has the unparalleled honor and unique glory of being there first and always. He never came into being. He was eternally begotten. The Father has eternally enjoyed ‘the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature’ (Hebrews 1:3) in the Person of his Son.

Seeing and savoring this glory is the goal of our salvation. ‘Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me’ (John 17:24). To feast on this forever is the aim of our being created and our being redeemed.

— John Piper, Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ, (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2001), 31

(HT: Of First Importance)

Beholding the glory of Christ – its effect and substance

John Owen:

The constant contemplation of the glory of Christ will give rest, satisfaction, and complacency unto the souls of them who are exercised therein. Our minds are apt to be filled with a multitude of perplexed thoughts; – fears, cares, dangers, distresses, passions, and lusts, do make various impressions on the minds of men, filling them with disorder, darkness, and confusion.

But where the soul is fixed in its thoughts and contemplations on this glorious object, it will be brought into and kept in a holy, serene, spiritual frame. For “to be spiritually-minded is life and peace.” And this it does by taking off our hearts from all undue regard unto all things below, in comparison of the great worth, beauty, and glory of what we are conversant withal. See Phil. 3.7-11. A defect herein makes many of us strangers unto a heavenly life, and to live beneath the spiritual refreshments and satisfactions that the Gospel does tender unto us.

This is the sole foundation of all our meditations in this:

The glory that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the real actual possession of in heaven can be no otherwise seen or apprehended in this world, but in the light of faith fixing itself on divine revelation.

To behold this glory of Christ is not an act of fancy or imagination. It does not consist in framing to ourselves the shape of a glorious person in heaven. But the steady exercise of faith on the revelation and description made of this glory of Christ in the Scripture, is the ground, rule, and measure, of all divine meditations upon that.

— John Owen, The Glory of Christ, p. 129

(HT: Erik Raymond)

The Apex of the Glory of God

The glory of God is the most important thing in the universe. But what about the most magnificent aspect of his glory?

John Piper explains in this three-minute video:

 

‎”Why history? So God’s grace, best shown at Calvary, would be glorified eternally in the Christ-exalting joys of the redeemed.” John Piper

From Desiring God.

Eternally Swallowed Up

Jonathan Edwards, reflecting on seeing Christ in the next life, while preaching on 2 Corinthians 5:8 at the funeral of David Brainerd:

The nature of this glory of Christ that they shall see, will be such as will draw and encourage them, for they will not only see infinite majesty and greatness; but infinite grace, condescension and mildness, and gentleness and sweetness, equal to his majesty . . . so that the sight of Christ’s great kingly majesty will be no terror to them; but will only serve the more to heighten their pleasure and surprise. . . .

The souls of departed saints with Christ in heaven, shall have Christ as it were unbosomed unto them, manifesting those infinite riches of love towards them, that have been there from eternity. . . . They shall eat and drink abundantly, and swim in the ocean of love, and be eternally swallowed up in the infinitely bright, and infinitely mild and sweet beams of divine love.

–Jonathan Edwards, ‘True Saints Are Present with the Lord,’ in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 25: Sermons and Discourses, 1743-1758 (Yale University Press, 2006), 233

(HT: Dane Ortlund)

Awe Puts Us in Our Place

Paul Tripp:

It is hard to overstate the importance of functional awe of God to your ministry. Awe of God is one thing that will keep a church from running off its rails and being diverted by the many agendas that can sidetrack any congregation.

Awe of God puts theology in its place. Theology is vitally important, but our awe of theology is dangerous if it doesn’t produce practical awe of God. Awe of God puts the ministry strategies of the church in their proper place. We don’t put our trust in strategies, but in the God of awesome glory who is the head of the church. Awe of God puts ministry gifts and experience in their proper place. I cannot grow arrogant and smug about my gifts, because unless those gifts are empowered by the glorious grace of the God I serve, they have no power to rescue or change anyone. Awe of God puts our music and liturgy in its proper place. Yes, we should want to lead people in worship that is both biblical and engaging, but we have no power to really engage the heart without the awesome presence of the Holy Spirit who propels and applies all we seek to do. Awe of God puts our buildings and property in their proper place. How a building is constructed, maintained, and used is very important, but buildings have never called or justified anyone—only a God of awesome sovereign grace can do so. Awe of God puts our history and traditions in their proper place. Yes, we should be thankful for the ways God has worked in our past, and we should seek to retain the things that are a proper expression of what he says is important. But we don’t rest in our history—only in the God of glory who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Our generation must be committed to commend God’s works to the next generation so that they may be rescued by and motivated by a glory bigger than the typical catalog of glories they would choose for themselves.

Read the rest here.

Why Does The Bible Present God Focusing So Much Attention On Himself?

John Piper:

 

J I Packer on the Doctor

 

Carl Trueman posts:

From JIP’s Collected Shorter Writings 4, pp. 84 and 87:

“In some way there was in the Doctor’s preaching thunder and lightning that no tape or transcription ever did or could capture — power, I mean, to mediate a realisation of God’s presence…. Nearly forty years on, it still seems to me that all I have ever known about preaching was given me in the winter of 1948-49, when I worshipped at Westminster Chapel with some regularity.  Through the thunder and lightning, I felt and saw as never before the glory of Christ and of his gospel as modern man’s only lifeline and learned by experience why historic Protestantism looks on preaching as the supreme means of grace and of communion with God.  Preaching, thus viewed and valued, was the centre of the Doctor’s life: into it he poured himself unstintingly; for it he pleaded untiringly…. Pulpit dramatics and rhetorical rhapsodies the Doctor despised and never indulged in; his concern was always with the flow of thought, and the emotion he expressed as he talked was simply the outward sign of passionate thinking…. He embodied and expressed ‘the glory’ — the glory of the God, of Christ, of grace, of the gospel, of the Christian ministry, of humanness according to the new creation — more richly than any man I have ever known.  No man can give another a greater gift than a vision of such glory as this.  I am forever in his debt.”

The Pastor’s Role in World Evangelization

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John Piper:

What then should a pastor do to promote a passion among his people to see God glorified by the in-gathering of his sheep from the thousands of unreached people groups around the world?

My answer: above everything else, be the kind of person and the kind of preacher whose theme and passion is the majesty of God. . . .

The most important thing I think pastors can do to arouse and sustain a passion for world evangelization is week in and week out to help their people see the crags and peaks and icy cliffs and snowcapped heights of God’s majestic character. And let me sharpen the point in two ways:

1. We should labor in our preaching to clear the mists and fog away from the sharp contours of the character of God. We should let him be seen in his majesty and sovereignty.

I know of one denominational official who, when asked how to preach on texts that seem strong on predestination or election or the sovereignty of grace, said something like, “O, I think you can preach on those texts without letting people know what you think. It’s possible to be sufficiently imprecise so that you don’t upset people.”

That attitude toward doctrine and preaching is the source of widespread weakness and shallowness in our churches. It is a tragedy when we believe that we are serving the cause of God by surrounding the peaks of his glory with a fog of ambiguity. If our people are ever going to have a global faith and a global vision we are going to have to stop hiding from them the biblical proportions of the majesty of God.

2. The majestic character of God needs to be seen week in and week out not in the context of casualness and triviality and Sunday morning slapstick, but in the context of exaltation and awe and solemnity and earnestness and intensity.

How will our people ever come to feel in their bones the awful magnitude of what is at stake in the eternal destiny of the unevangelized, if our homiletical maxim is to start with a joke and keep the people entertained with anecdotes along the way. How will the people ever come to know and feel the crags and peaks and snowcapped heights of God’s glory if our preaching and worship services are more like picnics in the valley than thunder on the ice face of Mt. Everest?

That’s the most important thing as I see it for arousing and sustaining a passion for the glory of God in world evangelization — week in and week out to help them see the majesty of the glory of God.

Excerpted from “A Pastor’s Role in World Missions” (1984).

Saving and Judging Glory

 

“The transformation the church needs is the kind that results from beholding the glory of God in the face of Christ (2 Cor. 3:18-4:6). The glory of God is a saving and judging glory-an aroma of life to those being saved and death to those perishing (2 Cor. 2:15-16), and this saving and judging glory is at the centre of biblical theology. If there is to be a renewal, it will be a renewal that grows out of the blazing center that is the glory of God in the face of Christ. This saving and judging glory, I contend, is the center of biblical theology.”

Jim M. Hamilton Jr., God’s Glory In Salvation Through Judgement

(HT: The Puritan Woodshop)

 

The Glory of God as the Goal of History

John Piper:

The supreme goal of God in history from beginning to end is the manifestation of his great glory. Accordingly our duty is to bring our thoughts, affections, and actions into line with this goal. It should become our own goal. To join God in this goal is called glorifying God. The way we glorify God is first to delight in his glory more than in anything else and be grateful for it. Then as a natural result of this joy in God we experience freedom from selfishness and are moved to seek the good of others. Thus love becomes the chief means by which we join God in the open display of his glory, and accomplish his goal in history.

Read the entire article here.

Give Them a Grand Understanding of God

Trevin Wax interviews David Platt and discusses God-centered preaching:

Trevin Wax: How does God-centered preaching lead to passion for evangelism?

David Platt: The gospel begins and ends with God. He is the holy, just, and gracious Creator of the universe who has sent His Son, God in the flesh, to bear His wrath against sin on the cross and to show His power over sin in the resurrection so that everyone who believes in Christ will be reconciled to God forever. And this is the gospel that we proclaim in evangelism.

So how do we best lead and shepherd God’s people to evangelize? By giving them a grand understanding of God. In preaching, we unfold the character of God: His holiness, His justice, His grace, and all of His other breath-taking attributes. As we magnify His Word, people behold His glory. And they believe, deep within their minds and their hearts, that God is great and greatly to be praised. In the process, this becomes the ultimate motivation for evangelism. The more the people I pastor see God’s worth, the more they want to make His worth known in the world.

So week after week after week, as I stand before them with God’s Word, I want to show them God’s worth. As they hear His Word and they see His worth, they will lay down their lives to make the good news of God’s grace and glory known to the people around them and people groups around the world. God-centered, gospel-saturated preaching is great fuel for Christ-honoring, world-embracing evangelism.

More here.

(HT: Darryl Dash)

John Piper on Keeping the Missions Flame Alive

From Dersiring God Blog.

When we see the necessity of the atonement

“All inadequate doctrines of the atonement are due to inadequate doctrines of God and man. If we bring God down to our level and raise ourselves to his, then of course we see no need for a radical salvation, let alone for a radical salvation to secure it. WHen, on the other hand, we have glimpsed the blinding glory of the holiness of God, and have been so convicted of our sin by the Holy Spirit that we tremble before God and acknowledge what we are, namely ‘hell-deserving sinners’, then and only then does the necessity of the cross appear so obvious that we are astonished we never saw it before.”

— John Stott
The Cross of Christ
(Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1986), 109

(HT: Of First Importance)

The God-Centeredness of the Gospel

From Jared Wilson:

How is God’s desire for his own glory reflected in the gospel?

Firstly, the gospel of forgiveness of sins through Christ is predicated on our needing forgiveness, and further, our inability to provide restitution to merit such pardon. So the gospel’s presupposition is mankind’s lack of glory. Sin in fact is defined as to “fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Secondly, though, Christ the God-Man makes this restitution for us himself on the cross, which gives God the glory (the credit) for salvation. Thirdly, he goes to the cross willingly; nobody murders him except that he has allowed them to, which takes the infamy of blame off of the perpetrators and transfers it to the credit of the sacrifice. Fourthly, the God-Man doesn’t stay dead but rises on the third day through the power of the Spirit with a glorified body. Ergo, even more glory for God. Then he ascends into heaven, giving himself even more glory. He sends the Spirit to grant us the gift of faith in receiving Christ’s work, so that he would get even more glory in the gospel’s acceptance. He sees that the gospel spreads into the farthest reaches of the earth, because he wants even more glory. And finally, he will return again to establish his kingdom once for all (lots of glory there), judging the quick and the dead (even more glory), and replacing the sun with the radiance of God’s glory (Heb. 1:3) as the literal light of the new heavens and new earth (glory saturation approaching 100%).

At each point in the gospel’s design, implementation, application, and forecast, God is at the very center taking the credit and establishing his own centrality. Indeed, we could say that God is himself God-centered, and while the gospel is for our salvation, it is chiefly for God’s own glory.

What Are the “Rewards” in Heaven and Should They Motivate Us?

Justin Taylor writes:

The Gospel Coalition has posted my answer for a recent “TGC Asks” regarding the nature of heavenly rewards and whether the prospect of receiving them should motivate our actions now.

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In its most general sense, “reward” (Greek, misthos) is the appropriate consequence or consummation of a course of action. Sometimes it is rendered as “wages” (Matt. 20:8;Luke 10:7; John 4:36). Negatively, Judas’s blood money is called “the reward of his wickedness” (Acts 1:18).

Positively, “reward” (which is always in the singular in the NT) refers to entering eternal life. And the greatest joy of heaven will be seeing God face to face (Rev. 22:4). Every believer longs for the day when “we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2), when we shall “enter into the joy of [our] master” (Matt. 25:21, 23). “They shall see God” (Matt. 5:8) and “your reward is great in heaven” (Matt. 5:12) are ultimately referring to the same thing. Jesus frequently appeals to reward as a motivator for righteousness—whether he is talking about persecution (Matt. 5:12) or love (Matt. 5:46) or giving (Matt. 6:4) or prayer (Matt. 6:6) or fasting (Matt. 6:18).

Five key passages reference believers receiving a “crown” (1 Cor. 9:25; 1 Thess. 2:19; 2 Tim. 4:8; James 1:12; 1 Pet. 5:4). Though it is popular to see these as different types of reward (crown of righteousness, crown of gold, crown of life, etc.) a majority of commentators believe these are different ways of referring to the one reward of eternal life. Space does not permit a detailed examination of these and related passages, but I would commend the careful analysis by Craig Blomberg.

While Professor Blomberg is largely convincing with regard to the exegetical issues, I think he takes a misstep in his theological objections to varying degrees of reward. Even though I don’t think any passages explicitly teach this idea, it is not inconceivable, not is it incompatible with any teaching in the NT. If there are degrees of reward, they would likely revolve around increased capacities and responsibilities.

Jonathan Edwards explains the former: “Every vessel that is cast into this ocean of happiness is full, though there are some vessels far larger than others; and there shall be no such thing as envy in heaven, but perfect love shall reign throughout the whole society.” Could the parable of the ten minas (Luke 19:11-27) imply that some believers will rule over more cites in the new heavens and earth? If so, this would mean that under our “great reward” (enjoying God himself) there are various roles and responsibilities. I am not certain this will be the case, but I see nothing inherently problematic in holding to this as a possibility.

In summary, all true believers will receive the great reward of seeing God face to face, and this should motivate all of our actions. The NT nowhere clearly and explicitly teaches varying degrees of reward, though this may indeed be true. If so, some may have greater capacities as well as greater responsibilities, but all of us will experience “fullness of joy” and “pleasures forevermore” at God’s right hand (Ps. 16:11). Maranatha—come quickly, Lord Jesus!

What is God’s Ultimate Purpose?

Jim Hamilton:

Do you want to ponder a question that has roots that stretch so far back into eternity past that we will never come to the end of them? How about this: What is God’s ultimate purpose? I would argue that God’s ultimate purpose is to display his glory and that his glory is seen most clearly when people understand and feel the way that God’s justice highlights mercy (cf. Rom 9:22-23). We have to feel the weight of God’s almighty, everlasting, righteous wrath crushing us so that we will perceive the liberating relief of God’s mercy. When people understand the gospel, they perceive the glory of God’s justice and his mercy in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I contend that every single biblical author had God’s glory in salvation through judgment at the heart of his theology. If I am right about this, then the biblical authors have communicated what God’s ultimate purpose is, and the biblical authors are in agreement with each other.

Jim Hamilton is the author of the new release, God’s Glory in Salvation Through Judgment.

The Hiddenness of God and the Happiness of His People

Gods wisdom in designing things this way not only brings him joy but also leads to the greatest joy of his people. Their greatest joy is joy in God. This is plain from Psalm 16:1 1: “You [God] make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Fullness of joy and eternal joy cannot be improved. Nothing is fuller than full, and nothing is longer than eternal. And this joy is owing to the presence of God, not the accomplishments of man.

Therefore, in order to love us infinitely and delight us fully and eternally, God, through the cross of Christ, secures for us the one thing that will satisfy us totally and eternally, namely, the vindication and experience of the infinite worth of his own glory. He alone is the source of full and lasting pleasure. Therefore, his commitment to uphold and display his glory is not the mark of a megalomaniac but the mark of love.

If he revealed himself to the proud and self-sufficient and not to the humble and dependent, he would obscure the very glory whose worth is the focus of our joy. Therefore, God hides himself from “the wise and understanding” and reveals himself to “little children,” because he rejoices in the glory of his grace and the greatness of our joy.

- John Piper, Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God, (Nottingham: IVP, 2010), p.153

Christ the manifestation of the Father

“We have only to track the divine footsteps of the Redeemer on earth, there to behold ‘as in a mirror the glory of the Lord.’ What do we see?

A Being, indeed, of infinite holiness—unsparing and uncompromising in His rebuke of iniquity, sternly denouncing sin in all its forms, driving with a scourge the sacrilegious traffickers from His Father’s house, proclaiming the impending and certain doom awaiting incorrigible sinners, the workers of iniquity; even predicting by discourse and parable the dreadful verities of a judgment-day, and pronouncing everlasting doom on the impenitent and unbelieving; on all traitors to their trust, on all neglectors and squanderers of committed talents; thus repeating, in words not to be misunderstood, the very truth which fell on the ears of Moses in his Rock-cleft, as the sublime voice and vision were dying away—’And that will by no means clear the guilty.’

But yet, in combination with this, we are called to contemplate one of infinite purity, beneficence, tenderness; whose delight was to feed the hungry, to heal the diseased, to help the helpless, to comfort the bereaved; feeling for them; weeping for them-—in His parables, giving a welcome to the Prodigal; in His daily communion, never scorning a suppliant’s request, or a penitent’s tears; listening, even in His expiring agonies, to a cry for mercy from a felon at His side; accepting the widow’s mite; making generous allowance for the lack of watchfulness at His own greatest crisis-hour on the part of trusted disciples; pardoning, with the tenderest of rebukes, the aggravated sin of a faithless follower; the prayer, trembling on His dying lips, of forgiveness for His murderers.

Reader! take in, at a glance, this wide comprehensive view of the Savior’s life and ministry, and in it you have a picture and impersonation of the character of God. ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men.’ ‘From henceforth,’ says Christ, pointing to Himself, ‘You know the Father, and have seen Him.’”

—John MacDuff, Clefts of the Rock

(HT: Of First Importance)

Theology Destroys Small Thoughts Of God

From Tullian Tchividjian:

I love these lines from Mike Horton’s excellent little book, Too Good To Be True: Finding Hope in a World of Hype:

Christian theology is specifically charged with the task of making problematic our relationship with God, of presenting God to ourselves and others in such a way as to be confronted with a person who cannot be conformed to the narrow and sinful precincts of our own longings, expectations, and concepts. The God who comes to us in revelation is not a projection, but a person. He wrestles us to the ground, takes away our pride, and leaves us walking away from the match with a limp so that we will never forget the encounter.

Mike’s profound point is that, far from putting God into a box, theology done right actually destroys our little boxes, showing us that God is God and we are not; He is big and we are small. Theology reminds us that there is no God but God and to encounter him is to be forever changed!