Knowing & Loving the Trinity预览

Prayer: God, you are so overwhelmingly good. I will never fully comprehend the breadth and width of who you are, but I ask that you would grow both my understanding and love for you through this devotional. Amen.

Knowing and Loving the God Who Is  

There is one God.  

The Father is God.

The Son (Jesus) is God. 

The Holy Spirit is God. 

Although, the Father is not the Son or the Spirit. 

The Son is not the Father or the Spirit. 

And the Spirit is not the Father or the Son. 

The remarkable statements you just read reveal a fundamental, complex, eternal, confusing, and wonderful truth: the God of the Universe is Triune. Christians, therefore, are Trinitarian. “But,” the curious reader might respond, “Where in the Bible is the word ‘Trinity’?” The concern this excellent question raises is quickly resolved when a few facts are considered:

• The Bible contains overwhelming evidence that the statements at the top are true and that God is therefore Triune. 
• Trinitarian language was adopted by the church shortly after the Bible was written and circulating. 
• As soon as heavy persecution calmed down in early church history (325 AD, to be specific), the church got together to clarify what they believed and immediately released a statement declaring that God is Triune. 

Yet the truth that God is Triune often seems as relevant to our daily lives as the study of Boltzmann's entropy, so we write it off as an irrelevant topic for the philosophers to handle. The aim of this devotional, however, is to challenge that perception by asking ourselves a critical question: What if the truth that God is Triune is not an obscure doctrine to be dismissed, but an incredible, delightful, relevant truth to be embraced? What if the fact that God is three in one actually makes sense of his attributes and actions? What if the fact that God is three in one is actually the best defense of our faith? What if God wants me to know and worship him in a more profound way because I better understand who he is? Let’s see if we can answer those questions together. 

Look in the Word:

1. Read Deuteronomy 6:4-9. What does God want the people to know about himself?
2. Read John 14:16-17. Who is speaking, what do they say, and what does it reveal about God? 
3. Read Matthew 28:19. What does Jesus instruct the disciples (and us) to do and who is represented in the “baptismal formula” he provides? Why do you think it includes all three names? 

What’s Next? 

1. Pray and thank God for being who he is and for choosing to love you.
2. Pray and honestly confess to God your feelings and thoughts about the idea of him being “Trinity.” If you feel confused or unsure or distant, tell him.
3. Today, look around and see how the world is full of things to be delighted in, things that bring us pleasure. Observe how the universe is full of beauty and wonder. When you do, thank God for creating all that is good and beautiful and delightful.