MTE Session 2 - Perfect God

Summary

One of the ways to discover ourselves it to look away from ourselves (i.e. not focus on ourselves) & focus on others. For Christians, that would be God. Birchley referred to James 1:17, & he had 4 things to say:

#1:
God gives every good thing. Every good thing we get comes from Him. He has a monopoly on goodness. Whenever we see goodness, we owe God a debt of gratitude. If God gives every good thing, we are to be "thanksgiving junkies".

#2:
God gives only good things. Something wrong happens, we blame someone else & possibly shame them as well. Some Christians doubt God's goodness.
Every good thing comes from above. God does not have inferior stock; He is incapable of giving second best. Because God gives good things only, we are never to doubt Him. It is better to doubt our perception than to read negativity into God's intention.
Never doubt God.

#3:
He is the Cosmic Father. The Father of Lights. The one above is the one who rules the world.
The God of the Bible is the one we should truly fear as we love Him. Fear is tempered by love & also intensified by love.

#4:
He is utterly consistent. No variation or shifting shadow. He is constantly here. It is because of His determination to give every & only good gifts that He is consistent. He is determined to be generous. So, why should we not utterly be consistent in a similar way? Be consistently obsessed with other's needs ahead of our own & be inflexible with being generous.

Jesus is concerned with our lack lack of consistency & integrity when God is Himself consistent & has integrity. If God is all consistent goodness, it does not make sense for His children to be double-minded.

Consistency is to be accompanied by integrity. A consistency that begs for integrity. Our consistency is to flow from a deep appreciation of His.

Reflection

• Am I a "thanksgiving junkie"? Probably not as much as I should be. I mean, I am a junkie of junk food, football, bludging, procrastinating etc. But a junkie of "thanksgiving"? I can't say I am. As I reflected back in June, I don't praise God enough for all that He has done for me, & consequently I don't give Him enough thanksgiving. One more thing for me to change!!
  
• I need to remember that God gives me good things & therefore never complain or have an attitude of dissatisfaction with whatever I get. For example, I should never compare myself to others & say "I got this, but he got that, so why can't I have what he got?". What I get is from God, & hopefully I never doubt God's intention with what He gives me. Again, I should never compare.
  
• Also, following on from that, it's comforting to know that God loves me & knows what's best for me. So, really, I should leave my future plans in His hands & not get hung up about the future's uncertainties. That is easier said than done, as my mind is always thinking about my future plans without necessarily including God in my thinking of those plans. I should let God take control, knowing that He gives only good things.