On Existence 3
So then, at its center, existence is an equation that only involves the individual and God. Every other aspect stems from this. From these conditions of existence comes the purpose of existence: the acting out of the will of God. It has been demonstrated thus far that, in this “equation” of existence, there exists no variables. In short, nothing can be done to extinguish your existence, and nothing can be done to change the fact that your existence is before God (played out in before God). These things are constant.
Now, then, our commitment to God (and to the following of the will of God) at its purest state must have the same conditions as those of our existence. Therefore, our commitment to God is between self and God. Again, this is an equation with no variables. It, at its purest, only involves the world around us to the degree that the will of God involves the world around us.
Romans 5:8-”But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:10-”For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”
John 8:28-”So Jesus said, ‘When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am {He,} and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.’”
How is it that a man could not only live in a world full of enemies, but also be abused, scorned, and ultimately murdered by them–and still show nothing but love for them? Even while they were murdering Him, Jesus prayed that they would be forgiven. Here is the ultimate example of pure commitment to the will of the Father. If there exists no variables in ones commitment to God–if there only exists the individual and God in the equation–then nothing can affect that commitment in the least. The will of God was that His “enemies” be reconciled to Him “through the death of His Son.” His will was love for humanity. There was no other variable in the equation. There was just the Son and the Father. No other thing had any weight.
It should also be stated that, if there exists any variables in our commitment to God, there exists those same variables in our commitment to love, and visa versa. In other words, if our commitment to God waivers according to how fairly we feel we are being treated, so our commitment to love will also waiver.
So then, it becomes our plight to eliminate all of the variables in our commitment to God and the following of His will. The main problem with this is that, at some level or in some area(s), we see God as a function of man (as opposed to man as a function of God). For instance, have you ever thought about what God did before He created man? If you asked the question, “What does God do,” you would rarely hear an answer that did not involve God’s interactions with man. If you asked, “What does man do,” you would rarely hear an answer that involved God. This represents the idea of God as a function of man. Basically, we are self-oriented and that is a bad thing. We need to overcome this mentality in order to develop a pure commitment to God.
Richie Fortenberry is the founder of RF Media Design, a website design company. http://www.rfmediadesign.com
