If God Is "I AM", then Who Am I? - Day 9

Day 9 – finite

Knowing his limits, man knows himself.  –PETER R. JONES

In my book on God’s nature, I bucked a recent trend in theology by proclaiming God to be infinite in all His attributes. For example, He is not just greatly powerful, He is infinitely so. The same can be said of His knowledge, justice, and love. Even when these attributes seem paradoxical, I refuse to abandon God's infinity. Instead, I embrace the paradox. To limit Him in this or that attribute is tantamount to moving off-course. God, I again declare, has no limits.

A quick look in the mirror should reveal who, in fact, is limited. Unlike God, you and I are finite beings. We are chronologically finite, physically finite, and intellectually finite. In plain English, there is a definite end to what we can experience, do, and know.

In a few days, we will look at evidence in favor of life after death. We will state outright that our obituary may not be the last page of our journal. We will embrace the hope that we will live on when death has destroyed our flesh. This will not, however, signify that we are infinite creatures. Instead, it will be further evidence of our total dependence on God. Our subsequent existence, like this earthly one, is an extension of His infinity. We have eternal life only because He—the Infinite Source of life—makes it possible. Were He to withhold His sustaining power from us, life as we know it now and could experience it later would come to an abrupt end.

To summarize the last two days’ readings, we are finite and dependent beings. We have no reason to boast, for everything we hold dear has its source in God. As the Bible phrases it, "Every good and perfect gift comes from above."¹

  ¹James 1:17.


SELF-REFLECT

1. Write down five things that remind you
     that you are finite.


2. Write down five things that remind you

     that God is infinite.

3. Offer a prayer of thanksgiving to God
     for “every good and perfect gift.”

Daily Quotation

Peter Jones, Capturing the Pagan Mind (Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 2003), 129.