Keep The Flame

God as the Source and End March 1, 2008

What is God? If one truly reflect on the answer to this question he will have to evaluate his own life. Such an evaluation, if genuinely and faithfully done, would lead to a life transformation. No one, who truly desire to know God, would remain the same. Change is the inevitable result of knowing God.

A.H. Strong defines God in his “Systematic Theology“(as quoted by Josh Mc Dowell in his book: More Than A Carpenter, p. 10, 1987 Ed.) as the “infinite and perfect spirit in whom all things have their source, support, and end”. From this definition, we could get two most important words, namely, “source” and “end”. God is therefore our source and end. As a “source”, He is our beginning, the reason and the purpose of our very own existence. As the “end”, He is the reason and the purpose of all our aspirations and pursuits. Hence, an honest and true consideration of who God is would lead one to a total change of his existence and purpose.

Paul said “in Him we live and move and have our being”. Being the most radical convert in the first century Paul summed up the purpose and meaning of his entire existence in the following “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20). This is the effect if one truly considers who God is in his life.

If God be the source and end of our life and of everything we do, we should only live the life and only do the things that will find their end in God alone. We must live in God and do all things for God. There can be no life and activity apart from this conclusion. A life that is not patterned to God is a life that is lost – lack of source and end. Jesus said “if you seek your life, you will loose it, but if you loose your life for my sake, you will find it”. He further said “apart from me, you can do nothing” with a warning that “you will be like a weathered rejected branch”.

What then is God? God is the source of our existence and the end of all the things that we do and pursue in this life.