Infinite and Transcendent

These two attributes are so closely related I thought we would look at them together. God as infinite takes into account both His eternalness and His immensity. While being transcendent means that He is beyond space and time. So if we put them together we see that He has always been, no beginning, no end and He’s bigger than all He has created. Because He is outside of space and time He is not only everywhere (omnipresent) but also everywhen. The comfort we can take from this is that there is nothing that takes God by surprise. He has the way prepared for us if we will stay close and even if we don’t, He’s got that figured out too.

Incomprehensible

Incomprehensibility means that God cannot be fully known. This is not to be thought of as God being unknowable. It simply means that we will never exhaust our pursuit of Him. He wants to reveal Himself to us more and more all the time but even when we leave this world there is an eternity of more. He is the eternal prize, the reason to run the race.

Aseity

Aseity is a fancy way of saying that God does not need us. Acts 17:25 indicates this and of course logically what kind of a God would He be if He had need. But what’s most important and oh so marvelous is what God wants. He wants us! He wants a personal one on one relationship with you and with me, the kind of bond that can’t be separated, the kind of connection that no matter what is going on we go through it together.

Providence

The providence of God refers to His activeness in creation. There’s His general providence, which describes the way He upholds the natural order of the universe. And there’s His special providence, which is His incredible involvement in our everyday lives. The important thing to keep in mind about God’s special providence is that we have a part in it. It’s our choice as to how much we allow God to be involved. Isn’t it peculiar the gigantic things we take for granted everyday like the air we breathe, and yet we don’t trust Him with the little stuff?

Omnipresence

Omnipresence or what is sometimes called ubiquity is the fact that God is everywhere at once. This attribute doesn’t really need an explanation but do we understand its implications? Somehow it’s easy for us to grasp that He can be everywhere in the world at one time and still not fully appreciate what that means for us individually. I think God’s favorite use of this trait is that it puts Him there with you and here with me right now. He is never absent from us. We may think we’ve somehow stepped away from Him but that’s not possible. He’s with us always, waiting to be included in all we think and do.

God is Love

“He first loved us.” I wholly believe that before God did anything He loved us. All of the true love that has ever existed has its roots in The Lord. There is nothing that can separate you from God’s love. The essence of love is sacrifice, caring more for another than you do yourself and His love is never self-serving. No matter the circumstances, God’s love prevails and pervades all that He is and all that He does. My friend Ty says, “God’s love for me feels like I’m the one getting all of it.” He is and so are you.

Let Me Splain

Here’s something else that should be pointed out before we start to dig into God’s attributes. Because one of His characteristics is immutability (more on that later) we have to keep in mind that each one of the distinctives we are going to be talking about applies to God at all times. Unlike us who can be kind at times and unkind at others, God is always consistent. So keep this in mind in the days ahead, just because we’ve moved to another attribute doesn’t mean He’s changed or is in a different mood.

Attributes

God wants more than anything for us to know Him. The relationship He desires with us must go both directions. He reveals Himself to us through His Word, creation, prayer and everyday interaction and one of the best ways to know when it’s Him is to be familiar with what we call His attributes or characteristics, those things about Him that are certain and have already been discovered. So let’s take a few days and explore some of the attributes of God.

Mother Teresa

“We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless.
The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest
poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.”

“Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you
without leaving happier.”

God Loves You

Understanding the truth we talked about yesterday, that God loves each of us with a perfectly unique love that truly is all we need, is not only the great news that we require. It is the truth that everyone needs. We must share this, not only in word but also in deed.