The Beauty of Self-Sufficiency

Often, one of the greatest flaws in the realm of theology is robbing God of His infinite greatness and glory by equating the characteristics of a created being to God, the Creator.

Jonathan Edwards says, when speaking of God:

"Being thus infinite in understanding and power, he must also be perfectly holy; for unholiness always argues some defect, some blindness. Where there is no darkness or delusion, there can be no unholiness. It is impossible that wickedness should consist with infinite light. God being infinite in power and knowledge, he must be self-sufficient and all-sufficient; therefore it is impossible that he should be under any temptation to do any thing amiss; for he can have no end in doing it. When any are tempted to do amiss, it is for selfish ends. But how can an all-sufficient Being, who wants nothing, be tempted to do evil for selfish ends? So that God is essentially holy, and nothing is more impossible than that God should do amiss" (The Sole Consideration, That God is God, Sufficient to Still All Objections to His Sovereignty, Sermon II, June 1735).

So,
- God has infinite understanding (Heb 4:15)
- God has infinite power (Ps 115:3)
- God is perfectly holy (Rev 4:8)
- God has infinite knowledge (Is 46:10)
- God is completely self-sufficient (Acts 17:25)
- God cannot be tempted or sin (James 1:13)

When I look at my life, it doesn't even take much introspection to realize that my list doesn't look anything even close to what I see above. If anything, my life seems to be the antithesis of this list. It is only when we realize how opposed our flesh is to the very nature and attributes of godliness that we realize how utterly lost and hopeless we are without the redeeming work of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit to bring about santification and change, and how transcendent the Creator God is over His creation.

Thanks to the horrendous, blood-drenched cross, Christians are now undeservingly ushered into freedom from death and have become objects of God's mercy through Christ's atonement. Let us join with the apostle in saying, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade - kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time" (I Peter 1:3-5 NIV).

Now that's good news for sinners like you and me.