God's Way's

[Episkopos]

Discovering God's ways is like going to an art exhibit of an Artist with the most creative genius. His ways are above our own. They are to be admired, pondered upon...and allowed to penetrate into our consciousness...until we understand the intent, style, and ways of the Artist. The messages, seemingly very hidden deeply woven into the art, strike you as you let your gaze penetrate into the brush strokes of the Master.

But God's ways begin with a backdrop.

Here in Quebec there is an artist who always paints his canvas black before doing anything else. It gives his colours a unique contrast...giving it an unmistakable signature so that you can tell his paintings from others right away.

God does something similar but in an much larger way of course.

God's backdrop is love. Everything that He paints ...He does so on the canvas...His canvas...which is love.

Next comes the setting. We could liken this to the things that others are set against....like say the mountains in the background. These are the laws that God orders everything in. Without these laws...nothing in the foreground has any context or relevance. NO, God's paintings are not just for show...they support all life.

But life has order. It follows laws. Without order there would be only chaos. In fact, the order is so precise that one can see the Artist in every living thing. Everything moves and is according to His laws.

 

[Dave L]

Discovering God's ways is like going to an art exhibit of an Artist with the most creative genius. His ways are above our own. They are to be admired, pondered upon...and allowed to penetrate into our consciousness...until we understand the intent of the Artist.

God's ways begin with a backdrop.

Here in Quebec there is an artist who always paints his canvas black before doing anything else. It gives his colours a unique contrast...giving it an unmistakable signature so that you can tell his paintings from others right away.

God does something similar but in an much larger way of course.

God's backdrop is love. Everything that He paints ...He does so on the canvas...His canvas...which is love.

Next comes the setting. We could liken this to the things that others are set against....like say the mountains in the background. These are the laws that God orders everything in. Without these laws...nothing in the foreground has any context or relevance. NO, God's paintings are not just for show...they support all life.

But life has order. It follows laws. Without order there would be only chaos. In fact, the order is so precise that one can see the Artist in every living thing. Everything moves and is according to His laws.

I see God's backdrop as sin and evil. Against which he shows mercy, love, justice, wrath, sovereignty, goodness. All coming together in Jesus on the cross, where he died for those who hated him. Absolving them from all they deserved. And giving to them all they didn't deserve in the way of goodness.

 

[101G]

to the OP, agreed, and that way is "holiness". Isaiah 35:8 "And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it [shall be] for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err [therein]".

Leviticus 11:44 "For I [am] the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I [am] holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth".

1 Peter 1:15 "But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
1 Peter 1:16 "Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

and "LOVE" is the command, "Love ye one another", for God is LOVE. amen.

PICJAG.

 

[Episkopos]

Enter free will and mankind who doesn't necessarily care to be subject to God the great Artist...and who see themselves as artists in their own right.

When we spill paint on our canvas...it is just a mess. But God knows how to weave our spills into His masterpiece. He knows how to make ALL things work together for good. His artistry is on a level whereby our chaos does not deter God's abilities as an Artist in the slightest way. He weaves every blot and stroke into a wonderful mosaic of colour and beauty.

Now set before His laws He paints in grace as the skies....but without covering up His laws. How does He do this? When many of us try to paint grace onto our canvases...it covers up the laws so as to make them disappear. But not God. His ways are not our ways.

Set in the foreground...before the gaze of the mountains of law and under the skies of grace... is where God has purposed for us to live and walk before Him.

There are many walks of life to be seen as one looks from end to end of His painting. They are as varied as the possibilities of form and colour.

But always with the same background of law and the same atmosphere of grace. And all of this on a canvas of love.

 

[Dave L]

Free will only renders sinful man as part of the backdrop against which God displays his glory in wrath and mercy.

 

[Episkopos]

Now the title of the painting is "holiness unto the Lord". Everything on the painting is in connection with God's purpose and His glory.

Now we lesser artists seek other things with our artistry...with titles as mundane as "how to get saved in one easy step"...or...this is why I justify myself"...or "how to enjoy your best possible life." In short, the titles are very self-absorbed..having no artistic content to think of. Sure these are creative...but not at all like the Master. Until we learn better...our canvases are covered with "self" ...and what is painted on these are the things WE find useful for ourselves. We tend to prefer what we can make for ourselves than to see our walks in God. Here and there we add in some love in for show, or effect...but always with the background of self....that is until we allow our gaze to sink deeply into the painting of God. Our inspiration is His artistry IF we are to find our place in His work.

Usually we are looking for His place in our work. We like a little advice...but we are looking for recognition ....justification...for being our own artist. We don't want to be criticized. We don't want to give up our own artistry. We want God to come help us with OUR painting.

But God won't do that. He is love...but not an enabler of that which isn't holy and eternal in love. So it is best, at the risk of the pouting of frustrated artists... to deny helping these on their own terms.

No, the only canvas that brings life..is God's. All other canvases will be thrown away...to the frustration of many would-be artists.

The cry is...why create me with a desire to be creative...only to have me submit to a higher Creator. Where's my freedom?

 

[Episkopos]

God's ways are equal....He is just. He always works by laws. There is no arbitrary and preferential treatment to one group of people over another.

With God it is always ...whosoever. Of course He already knows who will follow His ways....and who will resist Him.

Does grace take away the law? Not at all. Grace is painted on a background of law...so that the law is more firmly established.

How can God do that? How can He make seemingly impossible connections happen doing things that seem contradictory?

He is God. He wouldn't be God if He couldn't.

So really all the problems we have with God's ways is that we make God less than He really is. With our untrained and uneducated eyes we fail to see the beauty of God in holiness. We get intimidated instead that these attributes of an almighty God will make us look bad. So we turn our gaze from the Lord...thinking Him as an adversary or competitor...especially when God sends a fellow human to help us see. Pride rejects all interventions of God.

Should we remain ignorant of God's ways...because they don't suit us?

 

[Episkopos]

The law says...the soul that sins, it shall die. Or else...the wages of sin is death.

Does grace make these laws go away? Of course not. If it was up to us we would eliminate such hard sounding laws.

Hypocrites say they admire God's painting...but claim to not be able to see the mountains (laws) since they only focus on the skies (grace). They only focus on what they are interested in. They pick and choose some inspirations from the Lord's painting...but really only to do their own painting...which contains only skies...no mountains. So they are painting their own righteousness....a half truth...which God calls iniquity. In fact, all other paintings...even if derived from a partial admiration and inspiration from the Original...God calls iniquity.

There is only eternal love and life in the Original painting. It is to be entered into..not copied. All our opinions, theories and efforts just get in the way.

Can grace and truth be reconciled on the same canvas?

Enter Jesus Christ.

Only in Him can the irreconcilable be reconciled. He is our doorway into God's holiness and a place on His great painting. But we need to let go our own canvases to be a part of God's.

 

[Episkopos]

I see God's backdrop as sin and evil. Against which he shows mercy, love, justice, wrath, sovereignty, goodness. All coming together in Jesus on the cross, where he died for those who hated him. Absolving them from all they deserved. And giving to them all they didn't deserve in the way of goodness.

Dave I love you in spite of the crazy things you say... you are so sincere in your opinions about God.

I picture you...when you meet the Lord, saying..."OH I'm changing my beliefs to this!!!"

 

[Dave L]

Dave I love you in spite of the crazy things you say... you are so sincere in your opinions about God.

I picture you...when you meet the Lord, saying..."OH I'm changing my beliefs to this!!!"

No sin = no concept of God's mercy, goodness, grace, wrath, righteousness, and a lack of understanding Apostle Paul on the matter.

 

[Episkopos]

Now the Pharisees were very sincere in their commitment to God and what they perceived were His ways. They defended their faith against pagan encroachments. As such they were champions of the faith. We see al lot of that going on in our time as well.

The unrenewed mind thinks religiously...that we ought to formulate OUR own ideas about God. As in...we make our own paintings according to what we read in the bible. That's what the Pharisees did. They were meticulous in their reproductions of the bible...in their own opinions of course.

When Jesus encountered these champions of the faith He remarked...

John 5:42 but I have known you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves.

And also...

John 2:24 But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men,


25 And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.

Nobody can put God's love into their own painting. Since these men were trying to defend God, admittedly, but defending God against God...by leaning on their own understanding, interpretation and painting...using their own creativity.

God is love. Even though we don't understand how love and law work together...until we learn more of God's ways...we don't have a license to do our own reproductions of God in our unrenewed mind.

A renewed mind only seeks to enter INTO God's painting. Where there is love and life..and truth.

Nobody can paint truth into their own paintings...because we are making a lesser version of the truth in a partial reproduction which is a half-truth at best. The truth as the whole truth remains on God's canvas. We need the WHOLE counsel of God. We are to give up our lives to enter into His.

We have to reduce or limit God to fit Him into our perceptions of Him.

 

[Episkopos]

to the OP, agreed, and that way is "holiness". Isaiah 35:8 "And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it [shall be] for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err [therein]".

Leviticus 11:44 "For I [am] the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I [am] holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth".

1 Peter 1:15 "But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
1 Peter 1:16 "Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

and "LOVE" is the command, "Love ye one another", for God is LOVE. amen.

PICJAG.

God's love is holy. His holiness is love.

 

[Episkopos]

No sin = no concept of God's mercy, goodness, grace, wrath, righteousness, and a lack of understanding Apostle Paul on the matter.

All that is not on God's canvas is sin...it is taking something out of it's proper context.

And the worst sins are the religious kind because they seek to take a piece of truth away from God in order to add it into another painting which does not represent Him.

 

[Dave L]

All that is not on God's canvas is sin...it is taking something out of it's proper context.

And the worst sins are the religious kind because they seek to take a piece of truth away from God in order to add it into another painting which does not represent Him.

You cannot know God apart from sin.

 

[Episkopos]

You cannot know God apart from sin.

There you go! A crazy quote if I ever saw one...but it is consistent with your beliefs...I'll give you that.

 

[Dave L]

There you go! A crazy quote if I ever saw one...but it is consistent with your beliefs...I'll give you that.

What is mercy apart from sin and damnation?

 

[Episkopos]

What is mercy apart from sin and damnation?

Actually we can only know God apart from sin. Sin separates us from God. Sin is against love. So we only know God as we allow His love to grow in us. Not sin.

 

[Dave L]

Actually we can only know God apart from sin. Sin separates us from God. Sin is against love. So we only know God as we allow His love to grow in us. Not sin.

You cannot know God apart from sin. He = his attributes that are only understand as they relate to sin.

 

[stunnedbygrace]

Surely, surely, I have fallen down the rabbit hole and landed at the mad hatters tea party.

 

[Hisman]

( You cannot know God apart from sin. He = his attributes that are only understand as they relate to sin.= Dave's quote)

Surely, surely, I have fallen down the rabbit hole and landed at the mad hatters tea party.

As I read this SITE I find myself often thinking that!!