5/4/14- God's definition

[God] Who is eternal, infinite, immeasurable, incomprehensible, omnipotent, invisible, one in substance and yet distinct in three persons, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. (Scots Confession I b]

Scripture: John 4:24- God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
Rev. 4:8- [the angels sang]: "Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty who was, and is, and is to come."

Thoughts: God is eternal in terms of time.  He is infinite in terms of counting (with no beginning or end).  He is immeasurable in terms of His being and ability- no ruler or gauge can reach His measure; He is incomprehensible in that we cannot fully understand God with our limited minds- there is always a mystery in God to us.  He is omnipotent in that there is no power greater than He is and His power is everywhere.  He is invisible to the naked eye and does not have a body like we do.  His invisible hand is at work even when we do not see it.  He is Trinitarian- being both one in essence yet understood as separate persons.  The Father is God.  The Son is God. The Spirit is God.  God is not simple or controllable.  He is full of energy and resources- creating all energy (omnipotent) and all resources. These definitions are not arbitrary, but were derived from careful study of scripture.  A similar and more commonly used definition of God is found in the Westminster Shorter Catechism Q4: "God is infinite, eternal, unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth."  God's greatness and worthiness of our worship is brought out in the Scot's Confession.

Prayer: Lord, help me to listen to how you are defined in scripture.  Help me to believe that you define yourself, revealing yourself to us by your great love.  Keep me from elevating myself as if I were your judge, your source of being and energy.  You are worthy of my worship, my time, my praise.

(Infinity symbol with Christian anchor symbol)

[This is the second devotional on the Scots Confession written in part by John Knox in only four days in 1560.  Knox was considered the "superintendent" in writing this book which was written with the help of five others named John:  John Winram, John Spottiswoode, John Willock, John Douglas, and John Row.  This short devotional will be written in the summer of 2014 in honor of John Knox's 500th anniversary.  There is no doubt that Knox's thought transformed the presbyterian church and deeply effected the Anglican church of his day.  The evidence on its influence on the better known Westminster Confession of Faith of 1648 is seen by the above comparing with the WSC Q4 and the Scot's definition of God.]