Word of Encouragement (4/13/2020)

This morning, let us remember and praise God for His simplicity.

The simplicity of God refers to His “condition of being free from division into parts.” This is related to His pure spirituality. He has no body that he should be divided into different organs or broken into different parts and pieces. He always remains whole, complete, intact.

Also, in God, there is no division between His essence and His attributes. We can lose some (body) parts and still retain our identity. We can grow and “change” but still remain who we are in essence. But it is impossible for God to lose any “part” or change in any way and still be God. (So, God’s simplicity is closely related to His immutability.) Not only that, God is not a being who has different attributes, such as love, justice, grace, righteousness, mercy, holiness, etc.: God IS love; God IS justice; God IS grace; God IS righteousness, etc. God IS 100% of each and every one of what we call His attributes. It may even be that God does not have these different attributes. Maybe God has only one attribute and what we perceive to be His different attributes are just different manifestations of His one attribute, which is “simple” in perfect unity and harmony in itself. This is why we saw the close relationship between God simplicity and His spirituality and His immutability, etc.

This is also why God could not save us simply by His (pure) grace, simply by forgetting about our sin; His grace had to be a righteous grace, which required His Son to come and bear the full punishment of our sin. This is why we cannot go on to sin so that grace may abound more because God loves us with a holy love. We must love all of God for all of His attributes as He has loved us with all of His being.

We are not like God, are we? We are very much divided. We are made up of body and soul, which will be separated when we die. The Fall made the tension between our body and soul even greater. There is a constant division in our hearts between our sense of duty and our desire, between what we know we ought to do and what we really want to do. This leads to all kinds of conflict and turmoil within us as well as with others.

This morning, let us remember and praise God, who is “simple.” The simplicity of God is the reason/source of God’s divine shalom (peace). And He speaks to us, “Peace be with you!” He extends His peace to you so you can experience His peace even today. He will supply you with His peace until you can experience His peace in fullness in His glorious kingdom. There, the division between our sense of duty and our real desire will be done away with: finally, our God-given duty will be our desire and delight. Even the division between our body and soul will be done away with (as much as it is humanly possible) as we will be dressed with a “spiritual body.” We know that this peace can be ours because of Jesus: “since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). May God’s peace be with you and increase more and more. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6-7).

Have a blessed day, filled with God’s peace!

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