Today at Aletheia, we decided that if Jesus is central, then truth is central. Here's the fact, if we're going to grow up in Christ, then we must look at him. We must know him. We must celebrate him and enjoy him. So, for the next 40 days, I'm going to be posting short devotionals designed to help you put your eyes on God. The hope is that by doing this, we'll know him better, love him better, and be more empowered to love our neighbor.
So, I hope you enjoy these, and that they propel you toward Jesus.
In the beginning, God... (Genesis 1:1a)
God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” (Exodus 3:14a)
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. (Revelation 22:13)
I grew up in a place where most people agreed that God existed. Many of those same people, however, never lived their lives any differently because of the fact. Sometimes the biggest gap in the world lies between what the mind acknowledges as true and what the heart lives for. Your mind may agree that God is there. Your mind may even have a few opinions about God. But has this changed you? Your behavior? The way you perceive yourself and the world around you? Is the fact of God’s existence one which presses in on you, frees you, informs you, impassions you?
The first scripture comes from Genesis. “In the beginning, God...” Stop. Before the world exists, God. Before you exist, God. Antecedent to all life, God. Prior to physical, temporal, spatial reality, God. What does this mean? God is supreme—above all that we know and experience, and the great cause of it all. He is foremost in the list of important beings, because he is the first. He is primary. He is the star of the whole story of the Bible, and he is the main character right through the plot.
After God creates, he calls a man named Moses to act as a deliverer to his people who were in bondage. What was the name that God gave Moses to most succinctly and satisfactorily describe himself? “I AM.” That is, of all people and things which exists, God is saying “I exist the most.” Of all realities that have been, God is saying, “I precede them all.” And, of all futures that will comes, God is saying, “I will outlast ever one of them.” Thus he ends the entire story by reminding us one more time, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.”
Why does any of this matter to you? Because the story, the Bible, the faith, the whole matter of following God and being a disciple of Jesus is Christ is, at bottom, not about you at all. It’s about him. It’s all about him. Every drop of ink, every atom in the universe, every star which shines, and every mind which wonders at them twinkling in the night sky through the ark of history—all of them are about God.
God is more foundational to you than you are foundational to you, and that is wonderful news for you. What you believe about him, hope about him, and deeply know about him won’t just sit in a statement of faith somewhere in a drawer. No, these beliefs about God are the matters of the soul which shape absolutely everything you and I do. What one believes—really believes—about ultimate reality is the foundation for everything he does. Thus, the journey starts today by making the simple and ineffable reality known—God is, and that is the most important fact in the world.