Tag: predestination

Three and One

Posted on by Olaf

To some this may sound like secret code but to others it’s understood as the ancient reference to ‘The Trinity’! Apart from what God has revealed, much will remain mysterious as to how God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit can be three persons and yet one.  Many have tried to explain this in simple terms – you may recall such examples as a three leaved clover or the three states of water in liquid, gas and ice.  The featured tree trunk has three sections and yet is one – there is no metaphor that can adequately explain or help us fully comprehend ‘the Godhead’.  Valiant though any attempts of ours may be from our finite end of the telescope, they will all fall short.  Rather than being troubled about the hidden things, it is better to focus on what is known.  ‘Trinity’ is not a word that appears in the Bible but it was first used by early theologian Tertullian. The theological understanding was finalized at the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD after years of debate.

  • ‘The Doctrine of the Trinity teaches that within the unity of the one Godhead there are three separate persons who are coequal in power, nature, and eternity’ – Walter Martin
  • ‘God eternally exists as three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and each person is fully God, and there is one God’ – Wayne Grudem

Victory Over Defeat

Posted on by Olaf

Do you live in the shadows or in the sun?  If you take a few minutes to consider the highs and lows of your life so far, how do you think it adds up? We all want to live on ‘victory hilltop’ but often find ourselves in the ‘valley of defeat’.  This can be related to achievements, finances, relationships, moral decisions, faith and our walk with God.  Rather than being a steady progression, for many Christians life seems more like a game  of ‘Snakes and Ladders’ – one minute riding high and the next crashing down a spiral of disappointment when apparent success has given way to abject failure.  This woodland walk is beset with pitfalls from unseen hazards in the shadows but there is a better path heading towards the light.  How to get on the path where gains outweigh losses and victory triumphs over defeat?

  • ‘The first and greatest victory is to conquer yourself; to be conquered by yourself is of all things most shameful and vile’ – Plato
  • ‘Every moment of resistance to temptation is a victory’ – Frederick William Faber

CELEBRATION

Posted on by Olaf

Everyone loves it when the bunting comes out, joy is in the air and it’s time for the celebrations to begin. Most people know when and what to celebrate from the smallest to the biggest of reasons. What have you celebrated recently?  Anniversaries, rites of passage, achievements, memorials or perhaps just being alive! Life is certainly richer for celebrating with others good things in their lives or perhaps your own.

  • ‘Let us celebrate the occasion with wine and sweet words’ – Plautus
  • ‘Life is too short not to celebrate nice moments’ – Jurgen Klopp
  • ‘Celebrate your successes. Find some humour in your failures’ – Sam Walton
  • ‘It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure’ – Bill Gates