There’s a beauty to the holiness of God. There’s a beauty when God exercises his righteousness. There’s a beauty to the love of God and the mercy of God. As we see God exercising those attributes in his relationships to human beings and what he’s doing in the world.

An Attribute and a Characteristic
Is beauty an attribute of God? Yes, and . . . . Beauty is clearly an attribute of God. That’s why the psalmist sometimes uses the term “beauty” to describe God. The beauty of God in his sanctuary in Psalm 96, or very famously in Psalm 27 when the psalmist expresses this desire to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to see him in his temple.
The Bible doesn’t hesitate, on occasion, to use the word “beauty” to describe God. So you can put beauty on your list with the goodness of God, the love of God, the mercy of God, and the righteousness of God.
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Written by Perry L. Glanzer |
Monday, July 29, 2024
In the old modern university, the ideal was that in the search for knowledge, the researcher should be objective. This approach to scholarship is a Deistic corruption of the Judeo-Christian God. It treats the ideal of the scholar as the Marvel character known as the Watcher. The impassive but accurate observer of events does not interfere but just chronicles the narratives occurring in their area of study. The triune God is not an object and there is not an English translation of the Bible that speaks of God as being objective. This quality is not an approach to scholarship that ever should have been imitated by Christians.

One virtue that briefly made headlines a few months ago is rarely discussed today. At least, I rarely hear of it talked about as a virtue or placed on lists of Christian or public virtues. Indeed, one of the intriguing things about moral language in the academy, whether in Christian or secular circles, is the virtues that are emphasized and omitted from discussions. One of the virtues that one always hears about is justice. Yet, one rarely hears about a virtue that is necessary for justice to occur: impartiality.1
We heard in the news a few months ago that the lawyers in the Trump trial would have difficulty finding twelve impartial jurors. They should have been able to pick from any mature Christian. After all, the basics of a Christian theory of virtue is that we, as image bearers of God, are to acquire God’s virtues. In other words, we need to pay attention to God’s virtues to know what character qualities will help us flourish as human beings. The Bible is clear that one of God’s qualities is that God avoids partiality and that we should imitate this virtue.
The Biblical Basis
Specifically, God is described or revealed as one who is not partial (Deut. 10:17; 2 Chron. 19:7; Job 34:19; Rom. 2:11; Eph. 6:9; Col. 3:25; James 3:7). In older translations, such as the KJV, it is phrased “regardeth not persons.” Interestingly, I cannot recall reading a recent essay on the topic or seeing it discussed in Christian ethics texts as a virtue. When I looked up the topic of impartiality in my library, I found only two books that focused on God’s impartiality—one from 2007 and the other from 1982.2 I also could not find one study that attempted to measure the practice of impartiality and only found three theological articles on partiality.3 Indeed, the words impartial and impartiality have been in decline for some time.
Why is that?
The Reasons for the Neglect of Impartiality
Some of these problems can be explained by our own partiality toward certain virtues. We tend to gravitate more to popular virtues such as being just or fair. Yet, there is an important difference between these concepts. After all, in both Hebrew and Greek scriptures the term is given a unique set of words4 that are different than justice or fairness. The difference is that impartiality is the prior virtue necessary for the practice of justice to occur. That is why we look for impartial jurors in a trial before we determine justice.
It is important to note that impartiality is not something God simply practices in every context and situation. After all, God chooses specific people groups or people for specific callings. As the verses cited above indicate, it is a virtue God uses when evaluating particular groups or individuals under a law or moral principle. Impartiality deals with God’s judgments of human action within God’s moral order.
That same virtue, or more accurately, avoidance of vice, is required of Israel (Lev. 19:15; Deut. 1:17; 16:19; Mal. 2:9), the wise person in general (Ps. 82:2; Prov. 24:23; 28:21) and Christians (James 2:1; 3:7).5 The context for the exercise of impartiality in these cases almost always involves moral or legal judgments that deal with people of different economic, social, or ethnic identities (Greek/Jew; poor/rich; slave/master).
Impartiality is also the quality that I continually find that students appreciate in their teachers. 
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It is a sobering thing to consider that there are potentially worlds and stars and entire universes that God has made for just Himself. Realms beyond the peeping eyes of men and angels – for Him, and Him alone to enjoy. I would encourage you, dear reader, to spend some time in the book of Job, particularly chapters 38-41. In it, God answers Job “out of the whirlwind” and presents an astonishing account of Himself, one of majesty coupled with profound intimacy. He is Lord of the morning stars, the Father of the rain, and yet He is gentle and lowly at heart.

There are always those events in life which, despite how eagerly you may await them, always seem to fall short. That vacation you’ve been pining for over the last year reveals itself to be nothing special in the end; the new restaurant you’ve wanted to try for months turns out to be awful; and the highly anticipated final season of your favorite show – well, that is the worst offender of all. Hopefully such occurrences are few and far between, but they happen nonetheless, no matter how vehemently we might push up against them. Indeed, life is full of disappointments.

And then, every so often, things go not only as expected, but far, far better.

Several years ago, before I gave my life to Christ, I was with my family up North during our summer vacation. Not too far North, mind you, but far enough. We were on the Northernmost tip of the Bruce Peninsula in a little town called Tobermory, situated right along Lake Huron. Tobermory was a second home for my sisters and I growing up. Somewhere down the annals of time, my dad ‘stumbled’ upon the place, claimed it as his discovery, and subsequently brought our family there two to three times a year for the next twenty years – it was lovely.

It was rumored during that year in question that there would be a meteor shower on the very same week that our family happened to be cottaging up there. I say ‘rumored’ because, let’s be honest, a healthy skepticism of the weather network is not only an exercise of common sense, but outright wise. After all, even if there was a meteor shower, a lot could still go wrong: it could be cloudy on the nights in question, veiling our view entirely, or the shower could be delayed and trickle into the morning hours, thus limiting the starkness offered by the night sky, rendering the cosmic spectacle mundane.

In God’s good pleasure, none of these inconveniences came to pass. Upon arriving at Little Cove near midnight, a small beach nestled among the pines just off the beaten path, my father, sister, and I were treated to an experience I have never forgotten. Indeed, the heavens themselves seemed to have opened. 

Before us stood the pillar of the Milky Way, our own galaxy, adorned in rich hues of violet and sapphire, shining into the darkness like a jewel. The trail of the Lord’s robe, replete with stars beyond count and colors out of time, flooded the night sky. As the darkness gathered further to the North and South, away from the brilliance of the Milky Way, small streaks of light could be seen as they bowed slowly downwards – the meteors. They looked like satellites at first; tiny pinholes in the universe, leaving razor-thin tails of cosmic dust in their wake. 

It was as though the Milky Way at the center of this drama held the very universe intact, like a mighty braid of stars, leaving the meteors to fall like loose strands of hair to the left and the right. Before us, the impenetrable veneer of the lake, black and void, reflected the heavens back upon itself in an unending, unrelenting symphony of praise to her Maker. Trillions of voices taking up their harps in absolute harmony, one by one, echoing endlessly through the unmeasured plain of the universe.

What I observed during that meteor shower, even as an unbeliever at the time, left an imperishable mark upon my soul, such that I shall never forget it.

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Those who believe they are Christians, but refuse to pay the cost of discipleship are like salt that has lost its savor. Just as this salt is worthless or useless, so will be those who think they are saved, but are not His disciples. Why? They aren’t saved, therefore, they are not regenerate and don’t have the Holy Spirit. They are simply religious or cultural Christians whom the Lord does not know. Only those who count the cost of discipleship and see that eternity is all that really matters, lose their lives and, therefore, gain their lives. They have eternal life and will be with our Lord in eternity.

21 Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” Matthew 19:21 (LSB)
The message of salvation that is normally preached or taught in the vast majority of churches these days has been contaminated with Humanism. The focus is on becoming a Christian for some great benefit or reward from God based upon little to no personal cost. Masses of people respond to that false gospel as well. The genuine gospel that our Saviour preached during His earthly ministry may have mentioned the benefits of being saved, but He emphasized the cost of becoming His disciple in such a way that it caused many of His hearers to not follow Him anymore. In fact, whenever He saw that the people were flocking to Him to have their felt needs met, He would speak a message to them that expressed that those who are His disciples are the ones who have counted the cost and seen that the eternal is all that truly matters.

25 Now many crowds were going along with Him, and He turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. Luke 14:25-27 (LSB)

The word hate in v26 can be very disturbing to us if we read this casually. It is best understood in context with Matthew 10:37-39
37 “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it. Matthew 10:37-39 (LSB)
Jesus is telling us that He is Lord of those who are His disciples. That Lordship is one of ultimate superiority. He is Lord of Lord and King of Kings. He possesses all authority. The requirement to be His disciple is to love Him above all things and all people. If He isn’t Lord of a professing Christian then he or she isn’t His disciple. Those who profess that surrender to the Lordship of Christ is a work, therefore, it can’t be part of salvation obviously do not understand Jesus’ words here. This is very clear. In v27 we see that not only must a disciple of Christ be totally surrendered to His Lordship, they must also bear their own cross and follow Him. Those who don’t do this or aren’t willing to do this are not His disciples. What does it mean to bear one’s own cross? Isn’t it dying to self and self will. Because of our love for Him above all things and all people, we die to self and follow Him. This implies that we obey Him in all things.

28 For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29  Luke 14:28-33 (LSB)

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Job does not see his loss as a net positive because he ended up with more than at the beginning. This man after the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit’s own heart is just as content at the end as at the start. The reason for this is not rocket science. It is because his highest good was not himself, or anything around him. His chief end was the glory of God and then to enjoy Him forever and no earthly thing could change that about Job, for his faith was Heaven sent. 

As we move into the next part of the Lord’s Prayer we are witnessing the call of Christ to be in keen remembrance of the relationship between God and man. It is wrong to ever think that the one who made the Heavens and the Earth is working together with us to accomplish what is on our heart. Those who believe in Jesus have come to understand that they are the workers given the responsibility to be about their Father’s business, not the Father about theirs. We must be at rest in our position as the servant, not the master, and as the Apostle Paul notes the servant should serve in such a way that his master has no reason to chastise him. It is a sweet compliance when what is on our heart coincides with what is on God’s heart. That should be the goal and orientation of every person who loves the Lord. To say, as we will discuss more in a second, His Will Be Done, is a testimony born out of a servant’s heart where our interest seeks only in one thing, and that is what God has revealed in His word. This is our ultimate love each and every day that we breathe oxygen on this planet. Our goal is to return thanks for all that He has done for us. As one of our favorite Bible songs notes, O Lord the high and holy One, I am a servant unto thee, thy servant and thy handmaid’s son; thou hast from bonds delivered me.
Let’s look at the Q/A for today:
Q. 192. What do we pray for in the third petition?
A. In the third petition, (which is, thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven,) acknowledging, that by nature we and all men are not only utterly unable and unwilling to know and do the will of God, but prone to rebel against his word, to repine and murmur against his providence, and wholly inclined to do the will of the flesh, and of the devil; we pray, that God would be his Spirit take away from ourselves and others all blindness, weakness, indisposedness, and perverseness of heart; and by his grace make us able and willing to know, do, and submit to his will in all things, with the like humility, cheerfulness, faithfulness, diligence, zeal, sincerity, and constancy, as the angels do in heaven.
We are to have a singular mindset born out of first looking towards the author of truth and blessing, and second, remembering that this understanding is solely ours by grace alone.
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So my encouragement is to know your Bible! Don’t let fickle emotions or situations be the driver behind your assurance. Let the unchanging word of God be the thing that informs what you know. Don’t just know true things, but know the truth! Know God’s word for yourself, so that you can fend off the attack of the enemy with the sword of the Spirit. 

“Does Jesus love you?”“Yes. He does.”“How do you know?”
I heard this conversation during the funeral of the man who asked it. The first question seemed simple enough, but the second question was devastating. The man who was on the receiving end of that question had no idea how he could know that Jesus loved him. He had some good feelings toward Jesus. He had heard someone tell him that Jesus loved him. But he had no idea how he could know it. By God’s grace, I want to tell you how you can know these things.
We Know by What has been Written
In the book of 1 John, the Apostle writes about Christ and about the Christian life. And he tells us something really important; He tells us why he was writing. “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13). How does John expect you to know? By what was written! Luke does the same thing in his epistle when he writes, “It seemed good to me… to write an orderly account for you… that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught” (Luke 1:3-4). Again, why did he write? So that you would know! This is a really important point: We can know things from and about God because of what has been written.
People are looking for so many different ways to be certain about God or themselves. Different philosophies, signs and wonders, visions and dreams.
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Repentance is concrete. If there has been a sin, then we seek to change. If I have been making an idol out of money, I stop, and begin to delight in the Lord alone. If I have been putting impure things in front of my eyes, I stop, and pursue better things. If I have been getting enraged with my family, repentance means I stop, and I seek God’s grace for self-control. If I have been neglecting prayer, then I seek to begin again, and to create new habits. The examples can be multiplied. The point is that repentance means change.

One of the New Testament words for “repentance” means literally “a change of mind.” But this change of mind isn’t merely intellectual, as if repentance is a matter of accessing the right information.

It is deeply personal, a matter of our heart and life.
Repentance means we change our minds about ourselves, because we see our helplessness and how much we need grace. At the same time, repentance is changing our mind about God and seeing him as our one and only refuge. We come to grasp that it’s only because of the Lord’s great mercies that we are not consumed.

By the grace of his Holy Spirit, these changes are the beginning of new life.

This was the point of John the Baptist’s question when he called his listeners to receive the baptism of repentance. His question was essentially this: What will they look like after they’d been baptized in the Jordan? They’d be dripping wet, of course. They might’ve gone on their way, smiling and relieved.
But if they have really believed in God and repented of sins, then their life will look different. It will be changed. Such was the force of John’s preaching in Luke 3:8,

Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance.

Repentance is no abstract activity, but something you can see. As we draw on the sweet waters of God’s grace, fruits on our branches will grow.
First, true repentance changes our relationship with God. If you know yourself to be a chronic idolater and rebel, but now forgiven and cleansed, you will begin to love God, thank and worship him. Now you want to spend time with the Lord. You want to listen to him.
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The kingdom of God has been commenced. It is this reality that defines our lives, directs our steps, and encourages our hearts for life in this fallen world that is in opposition to God and His Christ. As God’s people we are called to overcome, to stand against the forces of a fallen world and to strive for the advancement of the kingdom of God. We fight not for victory but in victory, overcoming by the blood of the Lamb. 

To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father,to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (Rev. 1:5–6, NKJV)
How does the book of Revelation contribute to our perspective on the kingdom of God? We can answer this question by considering the way our vision works. My wife recently had cataract surgery. She was given several lens replacement options. She chose to have a distance lens put in one eye and a close lens in the other. That would leave it up to her brain to figure things out so that she could focus near and far.
That’s how Revelation works to give us perspective in relation to the kingdom of God. On the one hand, we see the kingdom of God present in power. Through rich symbolism and biblical imagery and prophetic word, we are shown Jesus Christ who lives and reigns on high. He is the lion of the tribe of Judah. He is the root of David. And He has conquered and has begun to reign.
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We all need someone in our lives to simply sit in an unhurried manner and listen. Widows and orphans are no different. In fact, because they often lack a sense of belonging, taking the time to sit with them, listen to them, attentively hear them, see them, and love them in this way is certain to encourage those who battle loneliness.

“God is a father to the fatherless and protector of widows.” These powerful words are not the clever sayings of orphanage founders or nursing home slogans filled with elderly widows. Rather, they come from the Psalms (Ps. 68:5), as David praises God for His great and glorious character. The desire to care for the poor and most vulnerable, specifically orphans and widows, runs deep in the character of God. And yet, so many Christians in the modern day seem to have forgotten this central passion of God’s heart and biblical theme throughout Scripture. Jesus modeled a special care for the weak and vulnerable throughout His ministry, but this divine task is most succinctly captured by the Apostle James, who writes to Christians and exhorts, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (James 1:27).
The context of this passage comes directly after James has exhorted his readers to “be doers of the word, and not hearers only” (James 1:22–25). The care of widows and orphans needs to press upon the conscience of every follower of Jesus. But the command is not simply to be hearers, but doers in this noble act. How can followers of Jesus do the care of widows and orphans today? Here are four ways that we as individual Christians and local churches can engage and make a difference:
1. Visit
Never underestimate the power of presence. A visit to an orphanage or the home of a lonely widow in your church is a powerful ministry in which any Christian can engage.
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Ultimately, the goal of prayer is a sweet communion with God: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Yes, we might begin the praying life with nothing more than petitions and requests, but in the end, we will receive much more than answered prayers. We will receive God Himself.

The Beginning of Prayer
In the beginning, God breathed His breath into humanity. According to both Moses and Paul, this breath (or Spirit) caused Adam and Eve to be living souls (see Gen 1:7; 1 Cor 15:45).
What does it mean to be a living soul? At the very least, it means that we were created with a unique spiritual capacity to commune with God. But why would God give us this capacity?
The Bible’s answer is simple yet profound: God desires to dwell with humanity. This becomes evident in many places: the Garden of Eden (Gen 1-2); the tabernacle of Israel (Ex 40); the incarnation of Christ (Mt 1; Lk 1; John 1); the New Jerusalem (Rev 21-22); and more. Indeed, the entire biblical story culminates in the fulfillment of God’s desire: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God” (Rev 21:3).
Thus, prayer can be described as an offshoot or implication of God’s desire to dwell with us. It is a God-given means by which we commune with God—through speech and listening and meditative reflection—this side of heaven. Its great and final end, as noted above, is everlasting and unencumbered communion with God.
The Fall of Prayer
How was prayer affected by the Fall of humanity? Did Adam and Eve’s sinful rebellion eradicate the possibility of prayerful communion with God?
According to the biblical story, prayer continues on, even after the Fall. Indeed, God speaks to Adam and Eve as they hide from Him, and they speak back (see Gen 3:9-10).
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