God's Will: Christ in you

Maybe someone can help me: was it Aristotle who said a thing cannot be beautiful if it is too big, cannot be comprehended as a whole, or viewed all at once? One can’t help but wonder how one looks at a starry sky or the majestic mountains much less smell a flower and say “this is not beautiful.” One wonders if the other is not confused between the absolute (there is something a thing called “beauty”) and the particular (“this or that is beautiful”). I could say, “That is beautiful,” and you may disagree. Contrariwise, I may disagree with you say is beautiful. Yet, there is one point of agreement we share: beauty exists. The particular of what is beautiful is where we differ. No, there is beauty in complexity and simplicity, in part or as a whole.

This is the beauty of God’s will. What He desires for mankind is complex but simple and stunningly beautiful: complex on His part and simple for us. Since man desires to do his own for himself with the hope that God understands, man makes complications for himself. This is not God’s will. “Save yourself some pain” is a piece of conventional wisdom worth considering.

Two items for consideration:

First, God desires no person to perish but come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). When we see how God sees our heart, we should be humble and desire to be cleansed from sin. God does not “understand our shortcomings” and simply forgive. His will is repentance, putting our faith and trust in the fact that He stepped into time and space to pay the penalty for our sin through the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Second, God’s will is that Christ indwell and thus complete His child (Colossians 1:27-28). I received an e-mail from a reader who wanted to know if it is possible for one to love God and not believe Christ. No, it is not possible because that is not God’s will. God intends to be believed and Christ is the central feature of what we believe. Believe God (this is simple) because of what He did for us in Christ Jesus (the complex that He did for us).

Another piece of (now) conventional wisdom says, “There is no try. Do!” Quit trying to please God. Since He makes His abode within every believer, we are to allow Him to live His life through us. This is simple and this is where beauty literally explodes. This is where life awakens and blossoms and breaks and dawns and breaches and flourishes and every other adjective applies. God’s will at work is stunning. Awesome in the sense that “awesome” is meant to be. He is the very definition of the word.

Don’t see it yet? Consider this: we don’t deserve what He has given us in Christ Jesus. We deserve to die in our sins but because Christ died, His love for us lavishes grace so when we repent, Christ is in you and me--His will, undeserved. If we simply see that He has made it simple for us by doing the hard part for us, we enjoy the beauty of a restored relationship with Him and He indwells us.