Ten-Second Theology

I abhor creeds, statements of belief and doctrinal lists. For far too long I was bound by 27 “Statements of Belief.” I now know that no list, no matter how brief, long or complex, can contain even a scintilla of who and what our God is and what He does. How can the Infinite One be condensed into a list if the heavens of the heavens cannot contain Him. Should we, by some miraculous means finally summarize all there is of Him into a succinct statement, we would still have an impossibility: He is not static; He is the ultimate moving target. What I know, what you know, is infinitely small and constantly changing. What He reveals to me and you is, or at least should be, constantly growing and changing. If we have the same view of Him today that we had yesterday, perhaps we need to examine our relationship with Him. This is not to say that certain foundational truths about Him do not exist. None of us would say that God is no longer omniscient (all knowing). But on examining this foundational truth, we should be constantly examining and restating it to reflect our own growing understanding and our changing relationship with Him. While it is true that I abhor a creed, I find it useful, occasionally, to examine my own understanding of Him. For this reason, over the last few weeks, I have put my mind to the task of putting into words that which reflects my current understanding of Him. No statement can contain Him, but it is a blessed thing to attempt it; to put into as few words as possible that which has been revealed by the Spirit in study and revelation. I have chosen to address Him directly in these statements rather than using the second person. This is purposeful. First, I am acknowledging to Him what I understand about Him. It is the end of a dialog and the impetus to the beginning of a new one. It is prayer. Second, in not using a declarative statement, I reduce the chance of locking the statement into a hard position which then becomes something needing to be defended. I have divided the statements into three sections: You (meaning Him), You and Us, Others and The Great Mysteries. There is much overlap and redundancy for which I do not apologize for my limited language will not permit me to condense any further. A word about the title: Since most of these statements are one sentence, it should take less than ten seconds to read them. My prayer is that the thought will enrich Your knowing of Him far beyond the seconds it takes to read each one. Finally, I will not defend these statements. You will most likely disagree with some, most or all of them, but these reflect my own current understanding. I hope they will change as I know Him more and better and more deeply. May you be challenged and may these few sentences spur you on into the pursuit of Him who has already caught us both. ***** You You are. You are, were and always will be Who You are. As You are, so You act. You do nothing that is not for ultimate good. Your Word Itself, is promise, command, power and execution. In You there is only light. All things are of You, through You and To You. You are Creator and Sustainer. Yours is the timetable of the universe. You are never surprised. You have planned for all and all is within Your attention, plan and purpose. You are in all place and all time; all place and time are within You Though You are in all things, nothing can contain You. Though all things are within You, that which is is not You. Though You are all power, You are gentle with Your creation. Nothing is unknown to You. We perceive You as Three; You know and experience Yourself as One. Your greatest desire is for relationship. You and Us You are our Daddy. You became one of us. You are Perfect Father, wise Older Brother and Constant Companion to us; You are to Yourself but Yourself. You cut covenant with Yourself on our behalf. You are our end, beginning and all in between. We live, move and have our being in the unbounded gift of Yourself. Though we know You only as You have revealed Yourself, You know us entirely. We see but limited facets of You in experience, in nature in the Word and in Your words. You are ahead of us yet always beside us. You are color blind, ignore gender, status, financial value, geography, sexual orientation and practice, religion, language and all else that divides. All of our science, religion and philosophy point us in varyingly inaccurate degrees toward You. You love music and singing and laughter hugs and kisses, parties, shared words, arguing and debating, a good joke, time alone, beauty and the not-so-beautiful,. Being with You, we become like You. Who You are is all we need. We cry out in praise and petition to the God You know Yourself to be. Our sin is lack of trust in You. You provide trust in some measure in all of us. We all lack trust. Our sin is missing Your mark; falling short of Your glory. To love You and all others is Your only command. Your view of us is backwards, upside-down and inside-out; You seethe inside, not the outside; the potential not the present; the intent not the action. You trivialize our sin and maximize our goodness. That which once Your finger wrote on hard stone, You now write by Spirit on our living spirit. Here and now, looking in from the outside, we see only Your mercy; Your justice and equity are hidden Only then and there, from the inside, will we know Your justice and mercy in perfect balance. You are the reconciliation of us to Yourself. You reconciles us to Yourself without effort on our part. On the cross, You absorbed into Yourself all that separates all of us from You; that to which we cling but abhor. In Your death, we died and continually die. You have already forgiven all sin—past, present and future. Your single completed sacrifice forgave and reconciled to Yourself all beings for all eternity You are to us that which we cannot obtain or obtain; What You are to me and us, You are to she, he, them and those. In Christ, You view us as holy and blameless. You are the solution to all we were and are and ever will be. Your Spirit comes only in Your cross. Others We treat others with the same degree of love and respect with which we love and respect You. What You are to us and in us You share through us with others. She, he them and those are, to us, You. Through our words, hands and deeds You cry out and minister to humanity. The Great Mysteries Your goodness and mercy stalk and overwhelm us in every life’s event. That which is disquieting and discomforting to us is all from You as much as that which is comforting and pleasant. Tragedy is but An event for which You have not yet revealed the final outcome. Though our paths diverge from one another’s, You walk beside each of us on our path. We will, at some great and final day, know You as You know us; will all worship You from least to greatest; will all be reconciled to You; will all be reconciled to one another and all will praise and honor You.