Friday, Trinity Week -- June 13
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Meditation
Friday, Trinity Week, resumed its attention to the three parts of the One God—the Trinity. Some find it difficult to understand the Trinity. The parts are functional aspects—persons, if you will—of one entity. Just as I am a Navy chaplain, a mom, and a writer, I remain one entity. Some people only know me as a writer. Others only as a chaplain. My children and their peers see me as mom—and not a chaplain or a writer, even if they know those aspects to be true.
Close friends have laughed as we have sat around in casual circumstances, when suddenly a crisis on the station would occur and they would call it: “She’s shifting to chaplain mode.” It was a visible tangible distinction.
The three persons of the Trinity are more complex than my example, but we all have a sense that we are different people to different colleagues/neighbors, family and/or friends.
The lesson of the Psalmist reminded us about the Creator God, who put humans on earth to have dominion, but still guided the fish in the sea. Job’s lesson pursued the infinite greatness of God and the Word (Jesus), who set all things in motion. A little sarcasm showed through when God asked if Job was around when all the earth came into being. He essentially said, “You are making me into a small god, Job. You weren’t around the bazillion years ago, when I put things into motion. Creation is much bigger than you can imagine.”
It should be a “Duh” moment, but how easy it is to forget the eternal and infinite magnitude of God. People try to reduce God to a visual image of an old grey long bearded man or their small box of ‘religious dogma.’
The truth didn’t change with Jesus’ sacrifice. God existed before the beginning of time and space, (John 1:1-14) before the creation of the universe, before even on our most brilliant days, we could begin to imagine. God existed before the 14 billion light years of time and space that came into being. God will exist beyond the end of our sun (when it burns out). God is eternal—the great I AM that I AM—the ever present now.
We get caught up in finite time. Instead we should celebrate the infinite greatness of God.
Paul wrote that he suffered for the sake of God. He suggested that people failed to understand God’s true greatness. “Stay away from people who talk about useless things that are not from God and who argue against you with a “knowledge” that is not knowledge at all.” Paul wrote to Timothy. Even in Paul’s time, people with ‘good intentions’ missed the point of the infinite greatness of God…and would argue about things that had no intelligent basis.
In the Middle Ages, people took sides arguing, “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” Useless arguments. Arguments that don’t show the greatness of God, but make God “small and boxed in” to the arguer’s invalidated thinking.
People who suggest that God started the Big Bang, that earth is older than 6,000 years, become targets of religious leaders that insist that the Bible and Science disagree. I have been targeted by nasty attacks for believing that God is infinite and time is not his constraint.
I cannot believe that Science contradicts God. God created the science that we are to uncover. Science cannot disagree with God, or we are misinterpreting Science and God. To have the majority of scientists agree, and a small group of people claiming things that make no sense, flies in the face of God’s work.
God would treat people who don’t believe in science like the treatment of Job. “You are making me small, Job. This knowledge is too great for people, so they make rash statements.”
Paul assured Timothy that he knew the God he believed in and was certain of –his sense of the infinite Creator and Word (Jesus) of God. He had met Jesus personally and been taught by Jesus himself.
Paul was attacked for his beliefs and Timothy was, too, because Paul answered Timothy specifically about the eternal. The eternal (infinite in both directions) nature of God and hence, the future of humans went hand in hand. He admonished Timothy to hold onto his belief in the eternal, because it was correct. It belonged to God’s nature of being infinite.
The New Testament lesson reiterated the need to use ‘sound or logical’ teaching. Irrational teaching has no place in Christian dogma, not when logical sound teaching can work in concert with what we discover through the use of our Divine image creative thinking. God gave us the intelligence and Paul indicated the need to use it wisely, not making Christians appear ridiculous because of lack of knowledgeable instruction.
That didn’t relegate ‘faith’ or ‘belief’ into a corner, either. Paul clearly spoke of holding onto faith and belief, but it was based on sound teaching, not illogical reductionism. The God of the Trinity is infinite. Eternal. Unfathomable by our finite minds. We must be respectful of that aspect of God, and not “reduce” God to something small that fails to recognize the truth of who God is.
Paul referred to the teaching as a treasure that is worth holding onto. He encouraged Timothy to protect the true image of God with the help of the third part of the Trinity—the Holy Spirit. To be helped by the Holy Spirit, we must be ‘open’ to God’s leading.
I was raised with a limited view of God and also, with an unwillingness to change. I was challenged by an engineer, who was a devout Christian, to rethink my narrow view. I decided to put it to God, praying that I would listen with an open heart. I asked that my ‘limitations’ or ‘prejudices’ of how the world was formed etc. would not block me from learning what the Holy Spirit wanted to teach me.
After grappling with the Scriptures and praying to avoid prejudice, I discovered I had boxed God into a small space. I couldn’t grow, or see God in a bigger way, until I prayed for my own ‘perceptions’ not to reduce God to a small lesser god. I see these Scriptures where Paul and the Prophets strive to convey the nature of God as pivotal in my own process. I may not understand all of science or the Scriptures, but I don’t ascribe limitations to God anymore.
Thanks be to God.¬¬
All Scriptures printed below are in King James Version for copyright purposes. However, clicking on the verse locations will take you to Biblegateway.com where the text is linked to more contemporary versions.
Prayer: Almighty God, Open my eyes that I might see. Open my mind that I might understand. Open my heart that I might make your words a part of me. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight. Amen
Season of Trinity Bible Readings
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm 8;Job 38:1-11;2 Timothy 1:8-12a&version=KJV;ERV;NCV;NIV;GNT (multiple versions)
Friday, Trinity Week
Psalm 8
Job 38:12-21
2 Timothy 1:12-14
Daily Bible Verses to Memorize for Meditating
Psalm 8:3-5 NIV
3When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
5You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor. Human beings that you care for them?
Single Bible Study chapter to study
2 Timothy 1:12-14 King James Version (KJV)
12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
13 Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
14 That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.
OBSERVE:
Take a moment and write three observations of the verses. What strikes you? An observation is an observable fact from the Word.
1.
2.
3.
INTERPRETATION:
What do you interpret these verses to mean for you today?
APPLY:
Today, I learned _____________________________________and apply it to my life.
Prayer of Encouragement
Dear God, in Trinity Week, we acknowledge the power of God the Creator, the Son, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit and the infinite aspect of who you are. Bless us with wisdom and help us to put aside unsound thinking, illogical processes and instead be all that we can be in your image—creative, intelligent and insightful, holding onto the true nature of the Infinite Holy God. In Jesus name, Amen
I hope you found a chance to encounter your Creator and experience the Love of God and the joy of Christ in this Season of Trinity.
Conclusion
Friday, Trinity Week drove home the concept of the Trinity—the three aspects of the infinite God. We are to acknowledge God’s true essence—the eternal nature and unlimited resource in everything we do. The Holy Spirit comes to aid us in our understanding, according to St. Paul. Timothy was encouraged to hold onto the true teaching and understanding that Paul taught him and not become sidetracked by narrow minded self-interested people.
God is so far beyond us, yet humanity remained important enough to interact with. What is humanity that God is mindful of us? The Psalmist called it correctly. We don’t deserve it, but because God chose us, we gratefully praise the Lord and celebrate the majestic name of God and all that God can do for us with the infinite unfettered resources of God.
Go out and be ready for God to do mighty things in your life—for the glory of God.*
Thank you for visiting ChapLynne’s Daily Encouragement and Bible Study. God bless you.
*If you do not know the Lord as your personal Savior and you are seeking, please contact me. A genuine and simple prayer, asking God into your heart for the forgiveness of your sins will also do.
Friday, Trinity Week, resumed its attention to the three parts of the One God—the Trinity. Some find it difficult to understand the Trinity. The parts are functional aspects—persons, if you will—of one entity. Just as I am a Navy chaplain, a mom, and a writer, I remain one entity. Some people only know me as a writer. Others only as a chaplain. My children and their peers see me as mom—and not a chaplain or a writer, even if they know those aspects to be true.
Close friends have laughed as we have sat around in casual circumstances, when suddenly a crisis on the station would occur and they would call it: “She’s shifting to chaplain mode.” It was a visible tangible distinction.
The three persons of the Trinity are more complex than my example, but we all have a sense that we are different people to different colleagues/neighbors, family and/or friends.
The lesson of the Psalmist reminded us about the Creator God, who put humans on earth to have dominion, but still guided the fish in the sea. Job’s lesson pursued the infinite greatness of God and the Word (Jesus), who set all things in motion. A little sarcasm showed through when God asked if Job was around when all the earth came into being. He essentially said, “You are making me into a small god, Job. You weren’t around the bazillion years ago, when I put things into motion. Creation is much bigger than you can imagine.”
It should be a “Duh” moment, but how easy it is to forget the eternal and infinite magnitude of God. People try to reduce God to a visual image of an old grey long bearded man or their small box of ‘religious dogma.’
The truth didn’t change with Jesus’ sacrifice. God existed before the beginning of time and space, (John 1:1-14) before the creation of the universe, before even on our most brilliant days, we could begin to imagine. God existed before the 14 billion light years of time and space that came into being. God will exist beyond the end of our sun (when it burns out). God is eternal—the great I AM that I AM—the ever present now.
We get caught up in finite time. Instead we should celebrate the infinite greatness of God.
Paul wrote that he suffered for the sake of God. He suggested that people failed to understand God’s true greatness. “Stay away from people who talk about useless things that are not from God and who argue against you with a “knowledge” that is not knowledge at all.” Paul wrote to Timothy. Even in Paul’s time, people with ‘good intentions’ missed the point of the infinite greatness of God…and would argue about things that had no intelligent basis.
In the Middle Ages, people took sides arguing, “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” Useless arguments. Arguments that don’t show the greatness of God, but make God “small and boxed in” to the arguer’s invalidated thinking.
People who suggest that God started the Big Bang, that earth is older than 6,000 years, become targets of religious leaders that insist that the Bible and Science disagree. I have been targeted by nasty attacks for believing that God is infinite and time is not his constraint.
I cannot believe that Science contradicts God. God created the science that we are to uncover. Science cannot disagree with God, or we are misinterpreting Science and God. To have the majority of scientists agree, and a small group of people claiming things that make no sense, flies in the face of God’s work.
God would treat people who don’t believe in science like the treatment of Job. “You are making me small, Job. This knowledge is too great for people, so they make rash statements.”
Paul assured Timothy that he knew the God he believed in and was certain of –his sense of the infinite Creator and Word (Jesus) of God. He had met Jesus personally and been taught by Jesus himself.
Paul was attacked for his beliefs and Timothy was, too, because Paul answered Timothy specifically about the eternal. The eternal (infinite in both directions) nature of God and hence, the future of humans went hand in hand. He admonished Timothy to hold onto his belief in the eternal, because it was correct. It belonged to God’s nature of being infinite.
The New Testament lesson reiterated the need to use ‘sound or logical’ teaching. Irrational teaching has no place in Christian dogma, not when logical sound teaching can work in concert with what we discover through the use of our Divine image creative thinking. God gave us the intelligence and Paul indicated the need to use it wisely, not making Christians appear ridiculous because of lack of knowledgeable instruction.
That didn’t relegate ‘faith’ or ‘belief’ into a corner, either. Paul clearly spoke of holding onto faith and belief, but it was based on sound teaching, not illogical reductionism. The God of the Trinity is infinite. Eternal. Unfathomable by our finite minds. We must be respectful of that aspect of God, and not “reduce” God to something small that fails to recognize the truth of who God is.
Paul referred to the teaching as a treasure that is worth holding onto. He encouraged Timothy to protect the true image of God with the help of the third part of the Trinity—the Holy Spirit. To be helped by the Holy Spirit, we must be ‘open’ to God’s leading.
I was raised with a limited view of God and also, with an unwillingness to change. I was challenged by an engineer, who was a devout Christian, to rethink my narrow view. I decided to put it to God, praying that I would listen with an open heart. I asked that my ‘limitations’ or ‘prejudices’ of how the world was formed etc. would not block me from learning what the Holy Spirit wanted to teach me.
After grappling with the Scriptures and praying to avoid prejudice, I discovered I had boxed God into a small space. I couldn’t grow, or see God in a bigger way, until I prayed for my own ‘perceptions’ not to reduce God to a small lesser god. I see these Scriptures where Paul and the Prophets strive to convey the nature of God as pivotal in my own process. I may not understand all of science or the Scriptures, but I don’t ascribe limitations to God anymore.
Thanks be to God.¬¬
All Scriptures printed below are in King James Version for copyright purposes. However, clicking on the verse locations will take you to Biblegateway.com where the text is linked to more contemporary versions.
Prayer: Almighty God, Open my eyes that I might see. Open my mind that I might understand. Open my heart that I might make your words a part of me. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight. Amen
Season of Trinity Bible Readings
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm 8;Job 38:1-11;2 Timothy 1:8-12a&version=KJV;ERV;NCV;NIV;GNT (multiple versions)
Friday, Trinity Week
Psalm 8
Job 38:12-21
2 Timothy 1:12-14
Daily Bible Verses to Memorize for Meditating
Psalm 8:3-5 NIV
3When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
5You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor. Human beings that you care for them?
Single Bible Study chapter to study
2 Timothy 1:12-14 King James Version (KJV)
12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
13 Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
14 That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.
OBSERVE:
Take a moment and write three observations of the verses. What strikes you? An observation is an observable fact from the Word.
1.
2.
3.
INTERPRETATION:
What do you interpret these verses to mean for you today?
APPLY:
Today, I learned _____________________________________and apply it to my life.
Prayer of Encouragement
Dear God, in Trinity Week, we acknowledge the power of God the Creator, the Son, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit and the infinite aspect of who you are. Bless us with wisdom and help us to put aside unsound thinking, illogical processes and instead be all that we can be in your image—creative, intelligent and insightful, holding onto the true nature of the Infinite Holy God. In Jesus name, Amen
I hope you found a chance to encounter your Creator and experience the Love of God and the joy of Christ in this Season of Trinity.
Conclusion
Friday, Trinity Week drove home the concept of the Trinity—the three aspects of the infinite God. We are to acknowledge God’s true essence—the eternal nature and unlimited resource in everything we do. The Holy Spirit comes to aid us in our understanding, according to St. Paul. Timothy was encouraged to hold onto the true teaching and understanding that Paul taught him and not become sidetracked by narrow minded self-interested people.
God is so far beyond us, yet humanity remained important enough to interact with. What is humanity that God is mindful of us? The Psalmist called it correctly. We don’t deserve it, but because God chose us, we gratefully praise the Lord and celebrate the majestic name of God and all that God can do for us with the infinite unfettered resources of God.
Go out and be ready for God to do mighty things in your life—for the glory of God.*
Thank you for visiting ChapLynne’s Daily Encouragement and Bible Study. God bless you.
*If you do not know the Lord as your personal Savior and you are seeking, please contact me. A genuine and simple prayer, asking God into your heart for the forgiveness of your sins will also do.
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