A Definition of God for the Purpose of Pursuing a Relationship

Defining God…as best we can

It’s a terrible confession but my faith has been paper thin for most of my life; mostly a lot of flowery expressions, important sounding words and doing the things I thought would impress others. In this headlong dash for communal approval from my peers I missed some very basic elements, and the two most crucial I can think of that I passed right by would be, 1.) a definition of what the Kingdom is, and 2.) a working definition (in human terms) of who and what God is. Sounds so rudimentary as to be embarrassing, but when one is embracing a new life it behooves one…and I do so hate to be behooved!...to start from the beginning with an attitude of humility and the mind of a student. I am, of course, lousy at both but I figure I’ll just fake it till I make it!

So, having given a few words and even fewer thoughts to what the Kingdom is, I’ll backtrack just a wee bit more and take a look at the Patris. Understand these are not my words, nor my thoughts, but the business of the health of one’s soul and its relationship with God is of primary importance in life (I believe), so I have no problem whatsoever in shamelessly stealing them and posting them on my blog. At the very least I shall give credit to the original author and, who knows, writing them down may burn them into memory…at least for a time.

So, without further adieu, allow me the great pleasure of introducing you (and myself) to….God. Some afterthoughts will help round out this definition, I think. I hope these words, again not my own, mean as much to you as they did to me when I read them this morning:

(who God is, by Adam Clarke, as taken from Dallas Willard’s ‘The Divine Conspiracy’, pages 65-67)

God is…
…the eternal, independent, and self-existent Being; the Being whose purposes and actions spring from himself, without foreign motive or influence; he who is absolute in dominion; the most pure, the most simple, the most spiritual of all essences; infinitely perfect; and eternally self-sufficient, needing nothing that he has made; illimitable in his immensity, inconceivable in his mode of existence, and indescribable in his essence; known fully only by himself, because an infinite mind can only be fully comprehended by itself. In a word, a Being who, from his infinite wisdom, cannot err or be deceived, and from his infinite goodness, can do nothing but what is eternally just, and right, and kind.

Now, from Dallas Willard…

Think of someone whose every action, whose slightest thought or inclination, automatically assumes he reality of the God Adam Clarke describes. When you do this you will have captured nothing less than the thought of Jesus himself, along with the faith and life he came to bring. And with such realities in mind, it then becomes illuminating to say that God is love.

Why does this mean so much to me? Aren’t there volumes of passionate prose written about the nature and identify of God? There are indeed, and I’ve read a few of them. Perhaps I just never read them when I was consistently seeking him so diligently or needing him so desperately. Since God has always been there and doesn’t move, maybe it was just my time, and I’m perfectly okay with that. Especially now, since to have a relationship with someone you very much need to be able to know who they are and what they are about. In this, I think the words above do very nicely.