The problem is that I’m off focus. Between school, research, and social networking I spend a lot of time online. Probably too much. All that leads to is a brain full of information with no time to share it!

I’m going to take the week off from the non-essential internet. No blog. No Facebook*. No Google Reader.

I’ll use that time to brain dump the hundreds of issues running through my head. A group from leadership here at Crossroads is heading to the The Gospel Summit this week and it would be wonderful to have had some focus time before we arrive in Raleigh-Durham.

See you in a week internet.

(There will be automated post to Facebook that have already been set up. But I won’t be following up on them. And I’ll probably share the awesome things I learn at the Gospel Summit, but again, I’m not following up until after a week!)

A.W. Pink

Not to long ago my faith hinged entirely on this question: Is God sovereign or is He not? I had been taught my entire life that God was sovereign; yet, those same teachers would subject God’s sovereignty to things outside of God, namely the free-choice of men. Their teaching, in a nutshell, was that the sovereignty of God ended where man’s choice began. God, according to some, chose to reveal himself to all and let men do with that what they will. This would later become a fundamental issue for me: If it is God’s desire to save mankind and men are thwarting that desire, then God is not Sovereign. I slowly begin to learn a truth that would forever change how I approached the Scripture and the Creator.

God is not merely able to control all of Creation He does indeed control it.

The Biblical evidence is clear; God is Sovereign over all things. He alone appoints authorities and He alone overthrows them. God rises up nations and God causes them to fall. God may do this through the actions of man, but never the less it is God. God also masters the winds and the waters. They obey Him without objection, whether they bring comfort or sorrow. The book of Proverbs shows us that God decides upon even the random things of life. [1]

His all-powerful nature is an essential part of His being and to undermine that is to remove Deity from Him. Further, to subject God to man’s will, to assume that the created can checkmate Creator is to strip God of His omnipotence. Most people are fine with God being Sovereign over creations, but when we speak of God’s Sovereignty over man’s salvation a lot of people tend to shudder. It is indeed a hard truth to wrestle with. (And one that we will dive into in a subsequent post)

Most people speak of Creator God as if He is spending His time begging people to seek after Him and love Him, as if God so needs our affection that He has reduced Himself to appeasing mankind so that they may yearn for Him. When in reality, God doesn’t need us. Not for love. Not for fellowship. God didn’t desire to step onto the seen and play the role of epic hero saving all from their sin. Instead, God always has been and always will be chiefly concerned with bringing glory to His name, and acting in a way to accomplish that grand purpose.

The good news for us is that one of the ways God chooses to bring His name glory is through the salvation of men. And that firmly places our salvation in His hands and not ours. Knowing that God is Sovereign should bring us great peace. Be comforted in knowing life will play out, exactly as God has ordained it to.

Thoughts?

**This post is part of a series covering the basics of what I believe. To read all the post in the series, click here.**

The titles are :
Erasing Hell
Forgotten God
Crazy Love

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My Father,
Enlarge my heart, warm my affections, open my lips, supply words that proclaim ‘Love Lustres at Calvary.’
There grace removes my burdens and heaps them on thy Son, made a transgressor, a curse, and sin for me;
There the sword of thy justice smote the man, thy fellow;
There thy infinite attributes were magnified, and infinite atonement was made;
There infinite punishment was due, and infinite punishment was endured.

Christ was all anguish that I might be all joy,
cast off that I might be brought in,
trodden down as an enemy
that I might be welcomed as a friend,
surrendered to hell’s worst
that I might attain heaven’s best,
stripped that I might be clothed,
wounded that I might be healed,
athirst that I might drink,
tormented that I might be comforted,
made a shame that I might inherit glory,
entered darkness that I might have eternal light.

My Savior wept that all tears might be wiped from my eyes,
groaned that I might have endless song,
endured all pain that I might have unfading health,
bore a thorny crown that I might have a glory-diadem,
bowed his head that I might uplift mine,
experienced reproach that I might receive welcome,
closed his eyes in death that I might gaze on unclothed brightness,
expired that I might forever live.

O Father, who spared not thine own Son that thou mightest spare me,
All this transfer thy love designed and accomplished;
Help me to adore thee by lips and life.
O that my every breath might be ecstatic praise,
my every step buoyant with delight, as I see
my enemies crushed,
Satan baffled, defeated, destroyed,
sin buried in the ocean of reconciling blood,
hell’s gates closed, heaven’s portal open.
Go forth, O conquering God, and show me the cross, mighty to subdue, comfort and save.

-Unknown Puritan
From The Valley of Vision