The December 20 issue of Update was a recap of the year. It featured a word cloud showing the most frequently used words in my 2023 letters. By a wide margin, “Jesus” was the most used word. He is the radiance of the Father, and if you have seen him, you have seen the Father. In GCI, we stand on the truth of the triune God revealed in the person of Jesus.
The 2023 word cloud did not show me using the words trinity or triune frequently. Please understand, this does not infer that we are moving away from our bedrock Incarnational Trinitarian Theology. In fact, our direction in GCI is to see what we do in ministry fully dependent on how we relate to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
God is three personal realities; these three do not exist in isolation. Rather, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are always interweaving and interpenetrating each other, are pure oneness in thought, purpose, and action, and are perfection and beauty—one God in three persons eternally in relationship. (This might be a good spot to pause and worship.)
The story of creation and subsequent salvation of fallen humanity tells us that God goes out from God’s self in love. The triune God is intentionally sharing a communion of life and love with his created children.
In the Christmas season, we set our minds on the miracle of the Incarnation. The Father sends his only begotten Son to take on flesh and blood and to be a child of a humble Jewish couple from Nazareth. The word “sends” does not mean condemned as some like to interpret, or that God sent an unwilling Son.
A modern vernacular might be parents sending their children to college. In the 1940s, the term was often used in the U.S. as parents “sent” their children to fight for the country they loved. There is an implied agreement in the sending. The point is, the second member of the eternal Godhead set aside his divine prerogative to become the second Adam, who was both human and divine, for the primary purposes of revealing the Father, going to the cross as the Savior of the world, and sending the Spirit in his stead. The Incarnation is God going out from himself in love.
During this Easter season, I am smitten by the powerful statement of Jesus, “When I am lifted up, I will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32 NIV). Taking his place as the true prince of the world, Jesus emphatically says “I” will attract, invite, and draw all people to myself. Everybody. God is going out from himself in love.
As we plumb the depths of the triune God revealed in Jesus, our image of God is shaped. We come to see a God who always acts out of love; a God who is for us, not against us; a God who saves and not condemns. The realization of God’s nature, and the truth that he goes out from himself in love, impacts us deeply. It impacts how we commune with God in our personal lives and devotion. As a body of believers who experience and know the triune God, it impacts how ministry flows from this collective body called the church.
Just as God is faithful to go out from himself in love, may the church, in its communion and reliance on the triune God, go out from itself in love as well. May we join and participate with Jesus in attracting, inviting, and drawing all people to him.
In the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Greg Williams
3 thoughts on “Going Out in Love”
Thank you for keeping the focus on Jesus. Following him enables me to participate in the mystery of living as God lives, eternally receiving and giving love. I don’t expect to understand this mystery, but I love it.
Meeting new people as I greet them and acknowledge their value as a person and speak their name correctly. Showing that I SEE them at this moment as they are and respect their existence as a child of God. This gives me great joy knowing I am participating with Jesus! NO accidental meetings!!
Thanks Greg for reminding us of God’s Love for All! God has made us Holy and Righteous Thru Jesus, planned before the foundation of the world to be Our New Creation! God now Adds us to His Life by the Gift of the Holy Spirit, so that none can boast, even to believe in Him is not of our-self!
Thank you for keeping the focus on Jesus. Following him enables me to participate in the mystery of living as God lives, eternally receiving and giving love. I don’t expect to understand this mystery, but I love it.
Meeting new people as I greet them and acknowledge their value as a person and speak their name correctly. Showing that I SEE them at this moment as they are and respect their existence as a child of God. This gives me great joy knowing I am participating with Jesus! NO accidental meetings!!
Thanks Greg for reminding us of God’s Love for All! God has made us Holy and Righteous Thru Jesus, planned before the foundation of the world to be Our New Creation! God now Adds us to His Life by the Gift of the Holy Spirit, so that none can boast, even to believe in Him is not of our-self!