Day 23

Of God and of the Holy Trinity

Chapter 2, Paragraph 1.

“…whose subsistence is in and of himself,…”

Scripture Lookup

Jeremiah 10: 10.

Isaiah 48:12.

Reflection

God is not Tinkerbell.

In the play version of  Peter Pan, the fairy Tinkerbell is on the brink of death. Peter beseeches the audience to demonstrate their belief in fairies by clapping. Tinkerbell the fairy is thus saved and energized to continue her escapades with Peter. A fairy’s existence, you see, depends upon the faith that people have in her.

As the Baptist Confession states, God is completely self-sufficient. He exists apart from anything else, and He is self-sustaining. Nothing outside of God caused Him to be. Theologians use the term “aseity” (ah-SAY-it-ee) to describe this principal attribute of God.

Oftentimes, though, people think that God needs us. Modern evangelism caters to our desire for importance by painting a picture of a God desperate for a relationship with mankind. Such a god is false and doesn’t exist. God does not wring His hands hoping that humans will fellowship with Him! Because He is God, He is perfect, and as such has no need of anything outside Himself! When we ponder that, the fact that He has chosen a people for Himself appears so much more glorious, because God really didn’t have to do that. We are so completely dependent upon Him for life and breath and being, and He is completely independent of every single thing in the universe.

For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways, declares the LORD. -Isaiah 55:8 (NASB)

God doesn’t need you. And that is a wonderful thing.

Question to Consider

• Have you ever thought that God needed something outside of Himself?