For everything that is in the world, the desire of the flesh, and the desire of the eyes, and the ostentation of living, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world is passing by, and its desire, yet he who is doing the will of God is remaining for the eon
First Epistle of John 2: 16-17, Concordant New Testament
A good friend commented to me the other day, in response to my previous post, that "God is not passive." I have to admit, he was correct in his statement. For too many believers have taken to using the phrase that God "Allows" things to happen. That the Father allows circumstances to come to pass in our lives. Does this sound like a God Who is working for the fulfilling of His will in us? I'm thinking not. Yet for the longest time I followed the mainstream church theology which proclaims that we've been separated from God by our sin. This, of course, is the false teaching of the church. So it is that I trust in the truth that the Father has never been passive, but active in whatever He does. God is not sitting in heaven waiting for something to happen, He is actively involved in whatever we do. To better understand this truth, we need to also understand that our life is not our own as some would say. Jesus proclaims this truth in His words that we live in union with He and the Father {Johns Account 14:20}. We might see ourselves as pretty active, but I would suggest that no one is as active as the Father. Think of all those prayers that are lifted up to Him each and every day. Can a passive God remain passive in the face of all that is going on? But I think that it goes deeper than that. The prophet Jeremiah has proclaimed the word of the Lord and that "I know the plans that I have for you" {Jeremiah 29:11}. We're told that it is the desire of the Father to bring about His will. He has created the earth and all which we will ever experience in it {Genesis 1:1}. Upon the completion of His creation, we're told that God rested from the work He had done {Genesis 2:1-2}. it is not a passive God Who has created all which we see, and He continues to be active even as our life is within him {Johns Account 17:21}.
To fully understand the Father, we must understand that He is actively involved in all which we do. The apostle Paul speaks to the truth that in Christ Jesus all is created {Paul to the Colossians 1:16}. I'm not entirely certain why I continued to believe that we live within a passive God even though it has been revealed to me that my life is in Him. I guess those old mainstream church teachings die hard. Despite the fact that I knew that the Father was active in His creation, it was a habit for me to refer to His presence in my life as being passive at times. That was in error. To know God is to know that He is always bringing about His will not only in His children, but in the world around us as well. To say that God simply "Allows" things to happen is ignoring the truth that it is through the efforts of the Father by which all has been created {Johns Account 1:1-3}. Was Jesus passive in His time here on earth? Absolutely not! Jesus was not only active in His ministry, but those He chose for His disciples were active in their learning from Him as well. How much effort was it for Jesus as He "Prayed more earnestly, and His sweat became as if clots of blood descending on the earth" Lukes Account 22:44}. Jesus was not passive in these moments. He was active in the fulfilling of His Fathers will here on earth. God did not "Allow" Jesus to do what He did, but was active in all which His Son accomplished. Jesus has proclaimed that "The Son can not be doing anything of Himself if it is not what He should be observing the Father doing" {Johns Account 5:19}. We can assume that Jesus has observed the active works of the Father first hand. God never allows anything, but is active in all He does.
For in Him is all created, that in the heavens and that on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones, or lordships, or sovereignties, or authorities, all is created through Him and for Him
Paul to the Colossians 1: 16, Concordant New Testament
~Scott~
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