God is Holy – Earthly Eyes or Heavenly Vision? Today’s topic, the holiness of God, is a challenging one to define. It is difficult because holiness is not simply one attribute of God; it speaks to the very essence of who He is. It is also difficult because the holiness of God is so vast that we cannot fully comprehend it. Yet it is important that we take time to meditate on His holiness and allow the Holy Spirit to deepen our understanding of who God is and what that means for us. The word holy means “to be set apart.” When applied to God, it means He is completely distinct from all creation. This takes us back to what we discussed last week when God told Moses to tell the Israelites, “I AM WHO I AM .” God is unlike anyone or anything else. But God's holiness goes beyond His uniqueness. It also speaks to His absolute purity and perfection. There is no trace of evil in Him, and He is incapable of doing evil. God cannot lie or make a wrong decision. He is blameless, sinless, and perfectly just. God's holiness extends to every aspect of His character . His love is holy. His grace is holy. His justice, wisdom, and power are all perfectly holy. Everything God does is consistent with the perfection of who He is. Consider Isaiah’s vision of God: “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!’ And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: ‘Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts! ’”— Isaiah 6:1-5 What an awe-inspiring picture of God's holiness! The Lord is seated on a throne, high and lifted up. The Lord’s face and feet are covered because of His holiness. The heavenly beings declare His holiness three times: “Holy, holy, holy !” And when Isaiah encounters this vision of God, his response is not to celebrate his own goodness or compare himself with others. Instead, he recognizes his own sinfulness and cries out, “Woe is me! ” We want God’s holiness to mean He is good enough to admire, yet familiar enough to keep us comfortable. But His holiness means He is utterly unlike us—perfectly pure, untouched by sin, and never measured by our standards. In His presence, we discover how much we need His grace. When Isaiah saw the Lord in his vision, his only response was ‘Woe is Me ’. We tend to imagine God’s holiness by taking the best person we know and making that goodness infinitely greater. But God’s holiness is beyond every human comparison. He does not meet a standard of purity outside Himself; His own nature defines it. Understanding His holiness requires more than imagination—it requires God to reveal Himself through His Word and His Spirit. – Inspired by A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy. Through earthly eyes, we may feel good about ourselves by comparing ourselves with others. But as the Holy Spirit deepens our understanding of God’s holiness, we see our sinfulness and the splendor of His grace. This leads us not to despair, but to awe that our perfectly holy God extends His grace to sinners like us. Personal Reflection Does contemplating God’s holiness stir thoughts of fear, worship, or comfort? Additional Resources

Embracing God's Greatness – Earthly Eyes or Heavenly Vision? When we open our Bibles, are we ready to hear what God says even when it differs from what we hope to hear or feel realistic through our earthly eyes? We may want peace while assuming certain circumstances must change before we can experience it. We may seek assurance while looking for a promise that life will unfold the way we think it should. We may limit God’s greatness because we cannot understand it. We may even put a limit on what God has promised because we don’t have enough faith in the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within each of us Christians. But what if the peace the Bible promises and we seek centers around a focus on the greatness of God, rather than a better set of circumstances? Since retiring—and in the months leading up to it—God has been and is teaching me to find peace in what I cannot fully comprehend about Him and His ways. As I considered another technology position, I weighed financial concerns, the expectations of others, and my own ideas about productivity. Would retiring be irresponsible? Should I replace my career with a full-time volunteer commitment? As these questions arose, I kept returning to the priorities behind retirement: being there for Jen, strengthening our marriage, and making room for the opportunities God places before me. Focusing on those priorities as well as circumstances brought clarity to God’s direction. The step left for me was to believe God will provide. “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.” — Psalm 145:3 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” — Matthew 22:37 Psalm 145:3 directs our attention to His incomprehensible greatness. Matthew 22:37 calls us to love Him wholeheartedly. Neither passage makes our worship dependent on understanding His plans or receiving the outcome we desire. God does not have to become more understandable—or our circumstances more comfortable—to be worthy of our wholehearted love. One of the greatest blessings of creating this newsletter every week has been the time spent reflecting on God's character leading to worship. It has helped me move beyond simply learning about God to spending more time meditating on who He is and worshiping Him for it. J.I. Packer writes in Knowing God that the joy, delight, and contentment that come from truly knowing God (not just knowing about God) are the best things in this life. I'm finding that the more time I spend reflecting on who God is, the more I understand what Packer means. “Let faith support us where reason fails, and we shall think because we believe, not in order that we may believe.” — A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy The A.W. Tozer quote above captures this topic beautifully and applies to God’s character and is also applicable to my peace, contentment, joy, where I want to spend my time, etc. I shouldn’t be putting limits on God’s promises because I don’t have faith that being in a closer relationship with God can and will change my perspective on everything in this life. Earthly eyes focus on what we think we should accomplish, what we think we can accomplish, what others think we should accomplish, and whether we are doing enough. Heavenly vision begins with God—who He is, what He values, and where He is leading us. Personal Reflection Am I allowing God’s Word to shape our expectations—or allowing my expectations to shape what I think His Word means? Am I limiting any of God’s promises by focusing on what I can or cannot do, rather than focusing on what He can do in me?

Importance of a Heavenly Vision "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us." ― A.W. Tozer (The Knowledge of the Holy) How we view God will have a significant impact on our relationship with God and others. A clear and Biblical understanding of God's attributes is key to an improved view of God that will strongly and directly impact the level of JOY and PEACE we can enjoy. This assertion is summarized by two key points. The first point involves us better understanding what the Bible tells us about who God is. The second point is fully trusting what the Bible states about God in all aspects without emphasizing some of God's attributes and minimizing others. Do we solely focus on God's holiness and justice? This perspective will result in feeling insignificant and alone. This unbalanced focus on some of God's attributes can effect us both in the good times or bad times. However, it seems to especially effect us when things don't work 'our way'. God doesn't answer our prayers in the way I think He should, so He doesn't care. He allows things to happen in my life that I don't like, so He doesn't care. Terrible things happen to others, so He doesn't care. This perspective will result in the losing out on the comfort that comes from know our heavenly father wants the very best for us, the 'best for us' is just different than what we perceive as being the 'best for us'. This perspective will not bring us lasting JOY and PEACE . Do we solely focus on God love, compassion, and patience? A focus on this part of God's character will leave us questioning God because this focus tends to be God wanting me to be happy and that my happiness is based on my circumstances. Therefore, when God is allowing things to happen that don't make us happy or when our prayers are not answered 'YES', we can tend towards questioning God's sovereignty, omnipotence and omniscience. This perspective will not bring us lasting JOY and PEACE . Do we solely focus on God's omniscience, omnipotence and sovereignty? If we focus on God's omniscience, sovereignty, omnipotence and start to question His ways based on a human perspective, we will end up questioning God. This will not bring us lasting JOY and PEACE . Do we view God as what we think God should be? If we focus on our view of what God should be, we will tend to have a shifting view of God that is not based on faith, but based on human perspective which changes like the wind. This view tends to shift with man's perspective for the current times vs. God's unchanging ways. This will not bring us lasting JOY and PEACE . Do we have a balanced view of God? A balance view of all of God's attributes brings about lasting JOY and PEACE . The release of control that only comes when we give every aspect of our lives and future to his control understanding that God is in complete control and wants the best for us. A deep faith in the balanced view of God, brings about a faith that God's ways are best for us which brings about JOY and PEACE . Therefore, in any situation God is in control and can work on HIS purpose which will be good for us.

How We View God How we view God will have the single most impact on our relationship with God. In turn, our view of God will impact the level of JOY and PEACE we can enjoy. "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us." ― A.W. Tozer (The Knowledge of the Holy) If we focus on God's holiness, righteousness and justice without an equal focus on His mercy, grace and love we will end up feeling insignificant without the comfort that God knows better than us and is loving, compassionate, understanding, and patient beyond our understanding. This will not give us lasting JOY and PEACE . If we focus on God being loving, compassionate, understanding and patient than we will tend to think we can act however we would like and not suffer consequences. This will not give us lasting JOY and PEACE . If we focus on God's omniscience, sovereignty, omnipotence and start to question His ways based on a human perspective, we will end up questioning God. This will not give us lasting JOY and PEACE . If we focus on our view of what God should be, we will tend to have a shifting view of God that is not based on faith, but based on human perspective which changes like the wind. This will not give us lasting JOY and PEACE . While in our human minds, we will never have a 100% accurate and clear understanding of God, we can strive to improve on our view of God. As a result, we begin to understand how His sovereignty, omniscience, omnipotence, and holiness work together with his love, grace, and mercy that leads to us giving up control of 'our way' being the 'best way'. Even though it's hard to put this in action and have complete confidence, God is a better driver if we let Him. This will not give us lasting JOY and PEACE . Our Thought's Are Not God's Thoughts "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neigher are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8,9 Do we truly believe that God knows what's better for us than we do? Do we truly believe that God knows what's better whatever the situation? Do we truly believe that God knows what's better whatever the situation? Play Video Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tumblr Copy Link Link Copied

Weekly Reflections The included weekly reflections are intended to help us focus on one central idea: we need to be continually and intentionally considering the greatness of God—the Creator—in comparison to us, His creation. The intent is to meditate on the topic within each reflection for a week, not just during a short period of time during the day, but that we reflect on this topic throughout the day and throughout the week. The following are a few key reminders as you utilize the weekly reflections. Continually remind yourself to direct our thoughts towards God. Reflect/meditate on the same verses and the same topic throughout the week. Weekly Reflections - God's Character Week #1-God's Greatness We need to be continually reflecting on the greatness of God to draw us to the point of impacting how we think, how we make decisions, and how we respond to the circumstances of everyday life? Read Devotion Week #2-God is Love God's love doesn't depend on whether we had a good day or a bad day, whether we succeeded or failed, or whether we feel worthy of being loved.God loves because God is love! Read Devotion Week #3-God is Gracious Grace is undeserved favor, blessing or kindness. In human terms, we can see people extend grace or we can show grace to others. However, the word grace in relationship to God’s character takes on a much more powerful meaning. Read Devotion Week #4-God is Unchanging What a blessing that our God is immutable—He does not change, and He cannot change. This is especially true as we live in a world where almost everything changes. Read Devotion Week #5-God is Eternal As we walk down this path, we do not want to focus on accumulating a tremendous amount of knowledge about God instead really know God and in knowing God that will naturally flow into how we see the world. Read Devotion Week #6-God is Holy The word holy means “to be set apart.” When applied to God, it means He is completely distinct from all creation. God's holiness also speaks to His absolute purity and perfection. Read Devotion Week #7-God is All-Powerful God rules over all things with absolute authority, complete power, and total independence. He is not only all-powerful; He has the authority and freedom to exercise His power according to His will. Read Devotion Week #8-God's Greatness When we open our Bibles, are we ready to hear what God says—even when it differs from what we hope to hear or feel realistic through our earthly eyes? Read Devotion Week #9-God is All-Knowing God knows everything about everyone and everything—including the past, present, and future. That may sound like a simple truth, but consider how important it is and how difficult it is for us to comprehend. Read Devotion