For
God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel
of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my
prayers, making request if, by some means, now at last I may find a
way in the will of God to come to you. (Romans 01:09-10, NKJV).
After his conversion on
the road to Damascus, the Apostle Paul lived his entire life with the
sure and certain conviction that every one of his thoughts, words and
deeds were performed as if for an audience of One – his Savior.
Listen to his own words
describe his perception of the continual closeness of his God:
‘But
rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this
purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things
which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you.
(Acts 26:16, NKJV).
“For
there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong
and whom I serve, (Acts 27:23, NKJV).
Moreover
I call God as witness against my soul, that to spare you I
came no more to Corinth. (2 Corinthians 1:23, NKJV).
For
God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the
affection of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:8, NKJV).
For
neither at any time did we use flattering words, as you know, nor a
cloak for covetousness--God is witness. (1 Thessalonians 2:5,
NKJV).
Each
of these examples shows Paul's acknowledgement and awareness of his
Lord.
Now
the question that arises is this: was Paul's relationship with Jesus
unique?
In
one sense the answer is, yes. Paul was chosen by God to be the
preeminent church planter of the 1st century, to
inaugurate (formally begin) the spread of Christian doctrine and
teaching. He was prepared from his mother's womb for that task, and
confessed that he was compelled by God to preach the gospel.
His
upbringing, his education, his passion and fervency, his brilliant
facility with words and logic, his talent for polemics (strong verbal
argument) all equipped him as an evangelist, missionary and the
divinely inspired author of two-thirds of the New Testament.
But
in another very real sense, the answer is, no. Each one of us is
prepared by God for a unique purpose in his Kingdom; given gifts of
the Spirit and empowerment to perform His will in and through our
lives. Each one of us is fashioned uniquely in His image,
specifically and purposely, and no two of us are alike existentially
(in our essential nature and being), even identical twins.
And
it is in that unique aspect, that each one of us has that same
intimate and ever present relationship with God that Paul writes
about.
In
truth, the all-knowing God has complete knowledge of all that we
think, say and do. He knows us better than we can ever know
ourselves, and this is necessarily true because of who and what He is
– God and Maker; Lord and Savior; the Uncaused Cause.
He
is the inventor of all possibilities. He is the designer of the very
fabric and substance of Reality itself. Every circumstance and
perspective of Existence is sourced from Him.
And
it is irrevocably clear that He is not an impersonal force, nor an
aloof Instigator, but that He is intimately involved with every
nuance (subtlety) of every moment of our lives.
How
do we know this is true?
I
can think of three evidences that support these statements.
First,
the incredible complexity and intelligent design of everything about
our Universe, from the pluripotency of our earliest cells
(embryonic and adult “stem” cells that have the incredible
capacity to create, from themselves, every other kind of cell
required for bodily human existence), to the vastness and
anthropomorphic (literally, “human loving”) nature of the Cosmos.
Every feature, foundational scientific law of physics, in fact, the
essential nature of all matter and energy is tailor-made for the
purpose of human existence.
There
are more than 100 such principles of organization discovered by
leading scientists, without which all of Causality, space and time
would cease to exist. Could this have happened by chance? Some would
argue that it could, but the reality is that it could not. Consider
just one word picture.
What
are the chances, do you think, of a random explosion in a junkyard of
discarded mechanical equipment resulting in a fully formed and
operational orbital launcher? Pretty slim, no?
Now,
take those odds and multiply them by the irreducible complexity of
even the “simplest” living cell, or the incredibly precise ratios
of matter and energy needed to sustain the physical Universe.
The
answer to that equation, however large, does not begin to address
even the slightest possibility of what we are, and the Universe in
which we live, happening by chance.
Secondly,
our own existence, the multidimensionality of our thoughts, emotions,
and actions conclusively indicate that we are more than the sum total
of the electrochemical reactions of the molecules and proteins making
up our bodies and brains.
Even
the most committed Materialist (one who denies that anything beyond
the physical exists) understands concepts and realities that are
indisputably immaterial: justice, beauty, and love, to name just
three. And certainly it is clear that our thoughts and feelings are
more than the firing of nerve synapses in or incredibly complex
physical minds. In fact, everything about our mental existence
bespeaks of a “ghost in the machine” of our brains – an
operator that is connected, yet distinct from the machine itself.
And
finally, there is the Word of God itself. Just listen to how God
describes Himself in the Bible:
“For
as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher
than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:9,
NKJV).
For
thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose
name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has
a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And
to revive the heart of the contrite ones. (Isaiah 57:15, NKJV).
Remember
the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I
am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the
beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done,
Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,’
(Isaiah 46:9, 10, NKJV).
for
in Him we live and move and have our being...(Acts
17:28, NKJV).
For
You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. My frame
was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully
wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my
substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were
written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of
them. (Psalms 139:13-16, NKJV).
“Behold,
I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard
for Me? (Jeremiah 32:27, NKJV).
Now
this same Omnipotent (all powerful), Omnipresent (everywhere
present), Omniscient (all knowing) God, the One whom that no greater
can be conceived, is the same God that was born as a Babe in a feed
trough two millennia ago, lived a perfect, sinless life, and died a
sacrificial death on our behalf. He is the same One who Paul knew –
knew beyond a shadow of doubt – was with Him each and every moment
of his existence.
He
is the same God who is witness to every aspect of our lives,
and knowing that, believing that, cannot help but change us; to move
us forward in the transformation from sinner to saint, from mortal to
immortal, from corruptible to incorruptible.
The
God who will transform us into the image of His Son.
Thus,
we are to live in His Presence, surrendering to His will, and obeying
Him, not out of fear, but out of love and gratitude.
Love,
Dad
