Best of all, I was alone in a relaxing setting and I began reading my devotions for the last two days. I had no other distractions around me so I was really able to think and pray about what was given to me today.
He who is unconvinced of God's forgiving love is unconvinced that He is more than a conqueror.
hmmm....so here's my take on this...if you don't believe all of God's glory; all that He is, you don't fully understand or "get" God and who He is. Now, after my initial thoughts, I knew there had to be more to this. So, being the English major that I am and loving the etymology of words, I looked up the word conqueror.
My computer dictionary states the following definitions of the word:
• successfully overcome (a problem or weakness) • climb (a mountain) successfully • gain the love, admiration, or respect of (a person or group of people)
It's this last definition, the one that I usually don't consider the word to mean, that makes the most sense. When I think of a person who conquers something - I think of them defeating something. When I think of something that can be conquered - I think of something that can be defeated. I never considered the last definition!
Wow, how much more the above phrase hits me now! He who is unconvinced of God's forgiving love is unconvinced that He is more than a conqueror.
We cannot just think of God as sending his one and only son to us in order to gain love, admiration, and respect. Of course that was part of it - duh. But it is so much more. SO much more. What God does and who God is...is something unconceivable. We as mere humans cannot understand Him. We can try - and that's what He wants us to do. We can believe - and that's what He wants us to do. But we will never be able to fully understand or get the multitude of who God is. But we do need to convince ourselves that He is All.
We must know, believe, and trust God's forgiveness. For all that we do. We are so far from being perfect; we sin even we don't think we are sinning. If we do not believe that God is all forgiving, we will never believe that He is more. If we do not convince ourselves that God is everything; we will never even begin to win that battle.
Tonight, I pray that I can learn to accept this. It's hard to imagine something - someone - so omnipotent, so omniscient, who is all-forgiving...and yet He is even more than that. While it's hard to imagine that, I need to know that it does exist.
It's this last definition, the one that I usually don't consider the word to mean, that makes the most sense. When I think of a person who conquers something - I think of them defeating something. When I think of something that can be conquered - I think of something that can be defeated. I never considered the last definition!
Wow, how much more the above phrase hits me now! He who is unconvinced of God's forgiving love is unconvinced that He is more than a conqueror.
We cannot just think of God as sending his one and only son to us in order to gain love, admiration, and respect. Of course that was part of it - duh. But it is so much more. SO much more. What God does and who God is...is something unconceivable. We as mere humans cannot understand Him. We can try - and that's what He wants us to do. We can believe - and that's what He wants us to do. But we will never be able to fully understand or get the multitude of who God is. But we do need to convince ourselves that He is All.
We must know, believe, and trust God's forgiveness. For all that we do. We are so far from being perfect; we sin even we don't think we are sinning. If we do not believe that God is all forgiving, we will never believe that He is more. If we do not convince ourselves that God is everything; we will never even begin to win that battle.
Tonight, I pray that I can learn to accept this. It's hard to imagine something - someone - so omnipotent, so omniscient, who is all-forgiving...and yet He is even more than that. While it's hard to imagine that, I need to know that it does exist.
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