Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Humility is the fear of the Lord; its wages are riches and honor and life.

• Proverbs 22:4

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

• 1 John 4:10

“Men blaspheme what they do not know. … the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of Christians, is a God of love and of comfort, a God who fills the soul and heart of those whom He possesses, a God who makes them conscious of their inward wretchedness, and His infinite mercy, who unites Himself to their inmost soul, who fills it with humility and joy, with confidence and love, who renders them incapable of any other end than Himself.”

• Blaise Pascal, Pensées (Thoughts) (thought number 566)

Often our ideas of God stem from our ignorance of who God is.

We cannot conceive of a God that is holy because we are far from holy, even on a good day.  We are confined to a body and to our senses, but God is infinite in every way.  We are trapped within time and space and God resides outside time and space.

But then, we cannot conceive of the Creator of the universe knowing the number of hairs on our head.  Part of that is that we have a hard time conceiving of God being outside time and space, so he can spend as much time with each of us as He desires.  But the other part of that is that He desires to love us.

Why does God love us?  We have done nothing to deserve that love, but God first loved us.

When we go to God in prayer today, take a moment to stand in awe of a God who loves us and wants the best for us.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.