Wednesday, December 22, 2004

God Omniscient

"Vera theologia non theoretica et spectulative, sed activa et practica est" - Martin Bucer

"True theology is not theoretical and speculative, but active and practical "

What practical and active benefit is there to us knowing that God is omniscient - all-knowing?

Often we use this great truth to comfort us, but it also acts as a handbrake to sin. This is seen in some of the ways we insult God's omniscience when we sin.

We wrong or insult God's omniscience when we:

1. Refrain from sinning because man sees, rather than because God always sees

"Secret sins are more against God than open sins; open sins are against he law, secret sins are against the law, and God's omniscience" - Stephen Charnock

2. Confess only to some aspects of sin and not others, or pretend that something wasn't as bad as it was.

3. Worship only outwardly

4. Enjoy sinful thinking, and excuse them because they are not actions

5. Fail to seek his help in self-examination

6. Make his omniscience an excuse for not praying as we ought

7. Are proud of our knowledge

8. Pry into things that he has not revealed to us

9. Judge the hearts and motives of others

10. Think that God doesn't understand how we feel

2 comments:

Kim said...

This is really a convicting list of things! Thank you for posting them. You have such good messages to share. It is apparent to me that you are a contemplative individual; it is appreciated.

jmark said...

Thanks Kim. I'm really enjoying working through the attributes of God at the moment. Fantastic stuff. Heaven will really be a wonderful place.