Seeing that out of Him and through Him and for Him is all: to Him be the glory for the eons! Amen!
Paul to the Romans 11: 36, Concordant New Testament
I look at the morning headlines today and I see God. Now, some might ask how God can be seen in such a fallen world. Have you forgotten who created this place we call home? Sure, He reorganized it with a flood during the days of Noah, but He never has undone that which He has created. Knowing that God indeed created all which we see, is it therefore possible that we can see God truly as all in all? Some well meaning believers might have a tough time accepting this truth of God. I know that I did growing up in the church. Growing up there was good and there was wickedness. God loved one and despised the other. The good would be rewarded and the wicked punished. Unfortunately, we see this theology continue to play out in the modern church as well. But has God ever actually hated that which He has created? Many in the church will say that God has reached that point where He has regretted creating mankind {Genesis 6:6}. They point to this passage as proof that we remain sinful. But how is it that God can be sinful? The apostle Paul speaks to the idea of the Father being all in all in Romans {Paul to the Romans 11:36}. So, if God is all in all, as I believe He is, then He is a intimate part of all which surrounds us. If we accept that God created all we will ever know, it isn't too difficult to believe that He is within all of His creation. I was first introduced to this truth during a local hike with a good friend. His question was simple, can we see God in the trees that surround us? Remember, that in the beginning He created the heavens and the earth {Genesis 1:1}. Personally, I don't believe that it's at all possible for that which has been created to not have the imprint of its creator upon it. That is why I have such difficulty accepting the church mantra that our sin has separated us from God. How can we who have been created in the very likeness of God ever be without Him? Despite our former sin nature, were we ever separated from our creator? I would say no to that all day long.
And now for something that just might knock the socks off of some Christians and cause others to accuse me of a false message and heresy. Hs God always been an intimate part of His creation? If we agree to this then we must also agree that He has been within the bad as well as the good. That God was in wicked men such as Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin. Is God in the tragedies of our life as well? Was God in the illness which took my mothers life? I would answer yes to all of these. For if we see God as all in all, which he is, then we must also see Him in the negative as well as the positive. For all are part of His creation. Did God create men such as Hitler and Stalin as wicked? Or, as I believe, did those men make choices that ignored who they truly were in the Lord? Keep in mind, that Satan was never created to be wicked, but his own choices led him down that road {Isaiah 14:12}. Indeed, Lucifer was created by the Lord as one of the most beautiful of the angels, yet he chose wickedness over righteousness. He chose his own pride over the Father who created him. Lucifer was not created as wicked, but he made that choice on his own. Knowing this, again I ask, did God create men to be wicked? Or, as with Lucifer, have certain men chosen the path of wickedness on their own? If we understand God as all in all, we know that He has created all and has declared it as good {Genesis 1:31}. Even as God has created all to be good, that does not mean that He is not in that which we see as bad. Remember that His ways have never been our ways {Isaiah 55:8-9}. At the time I did not understand why God allowed my mother to be taken from this world. That does not mean that He was not in my grief for her. He has been in all we will ever experience in this world.
He who is not loving knew not God, for God is love
First Epistle of John 4: 8, Concordant New Testament
~Scott~
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