It seems that every Christian has accepted that God is great. However, just how great God is goes deeper than modern understanding.
Beyond understanding how great He is, there is a reaction Christians need to have to God’s vast glory.
If the King of England walks into someone's house, they wouldn’t hesitate to make him a meal and treat him hospitably, but for some reason, even though God is thousands of times greater than the King and far beyond, He is actively inside of people’s hearts, and nothing changes. It is time for Christians to realize just how great their God is, and that there are natural reactions to that.
First Step
The first reality to establish is that the principle of reacting to God’s glory is very real and very prominent in the Bible. During the Last Supper, Jesus declares, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (Christ, ESV). This isn’t a command; it’s a prediction.
He doesn’t ask Christians to keep his commands; instead, He expresses that it will happen.
It acts the same as when someone drops something; they don’t command it to fall. If someone says, ”If I drop this book, it will fall” it’s not an ask; it’s a teaching. A love for God is naturally followed by keeping his commands. Why is this? What in the human heart submits to God’s glory when they love him? The answer is found in Luke when Jesus declares,
“The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” (Christ, ESV).
This idea of actions coming out of hearts explains nearly every immorality. People don’t do things that they don’t think are moral.
Even Hitler, one of the most perverse and wayward men in history, published a book detailing everything he was going to do to the Jews. Hitler didn’t just think his actions were sound; he thought others would agree. His book was published years before he became Germany’s leader, which means that he believed his actions were so virtuous that he could publish them and still win an election. However, instead of pointing a finger at all the people worse, it has to be redirected. The statement ‘Hitler was wrong’ doesn’t teach anyone anything new.
The most effective place for Christians to point their finger is right back at themselves.
How many actions in a day violate God’s law, but are believed to be ok? If someone violates God’s command, then they don’t believe that the right thing to do is to keep His command.
They may recognize at the forefront of their mind that God's word is holy and needs to be honored, but in their subconscious, they could be saying that because everybody makes mistakes it’s okay to mess up a few times.
Their heart isn’t fully honoring God’s word. However, Jesus wants Christians to love Him in full.
During the sermon on the mount, Jesus declares, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Christ, ESV).
Just because mankind isn’t going to be perfect doesn’t mean it isn’t God’s will for them to be. This means that every time someone makes the conscious choice to violate God, even if it only happens once a week, it still hurts Him.
God doesn’t want 90% of a Christian’s heart; He wants all of it. God’s love for Christians isn’t 90%; God loves in full.
It is time to start praying to God, “Take all my heart, I want to be all in”. Put all the chips down and bet on God. Before a Christian can change their actions, they have to change their heart. They have to start believing that God is good and that everything He commands is virtuous and needs to be followed.
However, the most important thing to believe in order to react to God’s glory is that He deserves every part of the heart and not just 90%. It is time to actively surrender everything to God.
God's Glory
In order to understand how to react to God’s infinite glory, it has to be established just how large it is.
After he rose from the dead, Jesus declared, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” (Christ, ESV).
This means that Jesus can literally do anything. This is an encouraging truth; it tells Christians that the man who loves them enough to give up everything is also authoritative over everything. However, it doubles as a difficult truth. It’s ugly to hear, but the reality is that every time someone prays to God and he doesn’t fix it, He makes the purposeful choice to allow that suffering.
There are three truths when this happens. One: God is good; two: if God is good then everything he does, even allowing suffering, is good; three: there is a reason behind allowing this suffering.
The third truth is where satan plants doubt. The first two are easy to accept but not easy to put together. God’s profound reasoning can be a stumbling block to Christians all around the world. As stated, people don’t do things they don't believe is right. Therefore, if they go to God in prayer, it’s because they believe it should be fixed. The reason why God finds suffering to be necessary can feel incomprehensible. However, one truth that Christians have to accept is that God doesn’t always want people to be happy.
In Proverbs, Solomon details, “If the righteous is repaid on earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner!” (Solomon, ESV).
The reality is, even if it’s ugly, that Earth is filled with so much suffering because of the sin mankind puts out.
God is a God of forgiveness, but he is also a God of justice. Those balance together for God to forgive many sins, but also repay others. In that reality, the three truths of suffering can be seen.
One: because God is moral His balance between justice and forgiveness is perfect; two: because his balance is perfect the suffering that’s endured is also perfect; three: for some reason, God decided this is the perfect way to exact justice.
Merely this basic reality doesn’t sit right and feels immoral. How could a benevolent God allow suffering? However, what Christians have to start believing is that, even if they don’t understand it, there is an answer.
Saint Paul explains suffering when he writes to the Galatians, “Whatever one sows, that will he also reap.” (Paul, ESV).
God’s perfect world has been set up for people to get out what they put in. When someone sows a relationship with God, they actively give Him their heart, then they reap the blood of Christ and they are washed clean for forgiveness. However, when that same person puts evil into the world by lying to their boss at work, they will receive people lying and cheating them. God even explains the answer to why suffering is in the world.
The reality of the Cross is that God makes no mistakes.
Whether or not someone believes it, every ounce of suffering that God has permitted is a holy and moral choice He made. In order for someone to give their whole heart to God, first they have to believe in His choices.
Divine Understanding
It’s been established that there is a reason for every choice God makes, but there is a greater gift than that.
Christianity is a religion that someone has to walk into without understanding, but they don’t walk out of it without understanding.
Because of God’s vast mercy, Christians don’t have to deal with a world where He makes choices and they don’t understand why.
Jesus told his disciples, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.” (Christ, ESV).
Jesus is creating a divide between those washed by the blood of God and those who aren’t.
Those with faith in His plan and those whose faith is in themselves. The before picture—a Christian who only gave God 90% of their heart and never accepted that He has a reason—is of the people to whom Heaven’s secrets haven’t been given. However, in the after-picture, someone all in—God promises Heaven’s secrets.
Understanding Heaven isn’t a blind hope or a farfetched faith; it is a promise from the most honest man to ever touch the Earth.
If someone steps out in faith and trusts God’s decisions, then God has already promised the secrets of Heaven. That means that nobody needs to question if God wants to teach them because He already declared that He does.
Divine understanding, that mankind could never wrap their head around on their own, is only achievable by the grace of God.
The truth is that suffering is too complex to understand, so God Himself has promised to teach it. He offers hope in the fact that He is a willing teacher. Christians don’t only get the comfort that He has a reason, but if they trust God, they get comfort that He will tell them.