Reform & Revive

The Nature of God is the defining Nature against which all things are measured.  Let me unpack that a bit.  What God loves above all things is Himself.  His Glory, His Presence, His Work, and His Son are the things which bring Him the most delight, hence why those who are saved are being conformed to the image of His Son - they must be or wouldn’t be accepted by him.  So, at the end of time, everything and everyone will be compared to the Nature of God and He’ll keep that which stands up, and cast away what doesn’t.  Believers will be found in Christ (God-incarnate) so they will find themselves with Him forever.

So, it is that which does not exist in accordance to God’s Nature (the defining, upholding, creating, outside of creation thing it is) that is considered sin.  That’s why all sin is described by the Bible in “realtive” terms that all imply missing, falling short, or perverting a pre-existent standard.  Words like “perverse”, “de-praved”, “fallen”, and “sin” (an archery term meaning to miss the bulls-eye) all show this.

This means that what exists in line with His Nature is the truly natural.  This makes the present fallen reality of the world - all things not in line with His Nature - not what’s “natural” but indeed “subnatural,” making the things of God not “supernatural” but the truly “natural.”  Everything God does then to break into this world is a matter of justice, restoration, and redemption - a matter of purchasing from darkness to bring to where all was meant to live.

What does this have to do with life as we know and experience it?  Simply put, it means freedom.  The idea of “supernaturality” creates this sense in us of impossibility, and we proceed to live life out of that notion that God is so “unattainable” for our little wills to obtain.  But the truth is more wonderful and terrifying all at once.  It’s not that he’s so far above, but it’s the fact that we’ve sunk so low that causes this gap.  But though we are trapped in this valley, Christ still descended and did the work required to make us truly natural humans again.  This means that in Christ we are more ourselves than we ever were apart from him.  We don’t lose our humanity, we gain it.  So the fight of this life is to live as you were naturally meant to live.

We must fight the subnaturality of this world to attain that which is truly natural, and in that find the rhythm of life that resonates in the most ancient and basest part of our souls that hearkens to a time in a garden long ago, and in a city that is yet to come.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 at 4:16 am and is filed under Contributor: Paul B., Theology. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will be moderated but will appear as soon as humanly possible.