The Trinity

This concept of the Trinity has been on my heart for a while. I keep getting these little reinforcements from God that it's something I should be writing about. So...here I go. No real clue where this will go but then again, most of my posts start out with something on my heart and then I just start typing and see where the Spirit takes me.

Growing up Jewish, one of the most frequently recited prayers, if not THE most frequently recited, is the Shema, which can be found in Deuteronomy 6:4. In Hebrew, it is "Shema Yisroel Adonoi Eloheinu Adonoi Echad" which in English means "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one." The idea of the LORD being ONE is the premise of the rejection by most of the Jewish people of the "Trinity" because if God is ONE, then how can God be THREE? I know I have referenced this in one of my very first posts, but in Genesis 1:26, God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us." So, it's a little confusing. Is God ONE or is God THREE? The answer (drum roll please) is YES. Both are true. Ummm. How?

Ok, here goes my crazy mind, and I have no clue where this will go or if it will make any sense to anyone other than myself (chances are, it won't even make sense to myself). God is about love and about relationship. He made it clear that He wanted to create Man in His/Our image and He also made it very clear that Man needed Woman because Man alone or Man with just all the animals wasn't going to work. God made several attempts to "relate" to us humans, the ones He created in His image. He used angels, a burning bush, a cloud, a formless voice, prophets, signs and wonders...all to try to get us to understand who He is and what He wants us to do and how He wants us to be. The problem is/was that the people would believe it one minute, and forget about it the next. The communication was basically like this: God - "10 commandments, here they are, follow them." People - "Umm, this is good stuff but we don't think you get how hard this is to actually follow." God - "Follow them or suffer the consequences, not only you, but generations after you." People - "Yes, Lord, we will follow and do what you say" (they would for a while, then totally went crazy and stopped for a while, then things got really bad and would turn back to God and follow again...and over and over and over like this for a really long time). God - "I'm just kind of done with this nonsense, you people just aren't getting it." Pause (400 years of silence)...Then Jesus is born.

Jesus. The Son of God...and GOD. Huh? Confusing? Yep. Here's what happened. God humbled Himself to BECOME one of us so that we could have an actual person to see, touch, hear and observe. He literally took on the form of a human being, emptied Himself of His divinity, faced all of the temptations, emotions and atrocities that humans face...to give us a tangible way to understand Him, relate to Him, relate to God through Him and to teach us about LOVE/Relationship. He showed us the PERSON of God, who existed with God before the earth was created. I know, it sounds so crazy. But it makes complete sense. God was having a really hard time getting us to understand Him, and we kept turning our backs on Him and He just kept getting irritated with us because we just weren't getting it. We didn't get Him and He didn't get us. So He showed up in human form and experienced what we experienced so He could better understand us and so that we could better understand Him. It's seriously the coolest and most loving thing He could have ever done. He showed us the relationship that He had and that He wanted us to have with Him and with each other. But He couldn't just stay here forever, as a human. For one thing, all human beings do eventually die (reference the fall). For another thing, He also came to be a sacrifice so that we would be able to experience God the way He did. Jesus and God were like the ultimate BFF's. They were so tight, and God wanted us to be "tight" with Him as well. But we were/are total sinners and there is no way for us to be perfect no matter how hard we try, and in order for God to be able to handle this about us and for us to be able to still have a relationship with God, there had to be a sacrifice. If you want to read up all about sacrifice, check out Leviticus and you will find out exactly what you would have had to offer for a particular situation or circumstance in order for God to forgive you back in the day. In order for us to be made right with God, Jesus became the ultimate sacrifice for us. It was prophesied long before He walked the earth and it was the way for us to be reconciled to God, but when Jesus died, how would people in generations to come know and believe in God? The PERSON was dead, and even though He rose from the dead and was seen by several hundred people before ascending into Heaven to sit with God, we wouldn't see Him again for a REALLY long time (no one really knows when). Enter the Holy Spirit.

Ok we have God, we have Jesus (who is also God) and we have the Holy Spirit. What in the what? What does that even mean? Holy Spirit? Some kind of ghost? Like just randomly hanging around in and among us? How is this even remotely possible? This just sounds so wacky. Actually, there's a lot of mention of the "Spirit" in the Old Testament, so it shouldn't be a completely foreign concept when we get to the Jesus part of the story. The Spirit is mentioned so many times in the Old Testament, that it would be another long blog post to discuss. I'm going to add in a link to a website that will address the Spirit in the Old Testament far better than I could:

https://bible.org/seriespage/2-putting-pentecost-perspective-part-1-holy-spirit-old-testament-acts-21-13

Basically, the Holy Spirit is a promise from God (the Father and the Son). It's a promise that we will always have guidance, love, relationship and wisdom that lives in us and is with us, going before and following us everywhere and in everything. It's the way that we can actually become the people that God created us to be (remember, in HIS image). This is a free gift that we can take or reject. The Spirit is always working. When you are driving down the street and see a homeless man and feel this nudge to give him something, that's the Spirit. When you are praying to God to get rid of bitterness in your heart, it's the Spirit that makes that happen. When you feel "called" into a particular career that you know didn't come from your brain, that's the Spirit pushing you there. When someone comes to your mind and you can't stop thinking about them and are prompted to reach out (call, text, visit), that is the Spirit. When you have convictions of "right" and "wrong," that's the Spirit trying to lead you down the "right" path. We can choose to ignore the promptings of the Spirit. Many of us do ignore...and it's really sad because in the end, we are the ones that are missing out on the most amazing gift. The divine dance. The Trinity has this incredible relationship that is strong and cannot be broken. The 3 parts of the Trinity work together in harmony and that is exactly how we are to interact with each other. Because we are human (and broken), it is impossible (in our own power) to imitate this harmony. However, with God (the Trinity) ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE.

Believing in God is good. Following Jesus is great. Having the Holy Spirit is awesome! The only way to truly experience this life as God intended is to allow all three into your hearts and minds. I can promise that if you do, amazing things will happen. I have lots of stories I could tell you about how this 3-in-1 God has changed, rearranged and transformed me. It truly only works if you have faith. Even faith as small as a mustard seed. Dare to conceive. Dare to believe. Dare to receive.

My GOD I praise and thank You for all that You have done in my heart and in my life as I have continued to believe and to trust You. I know that sometimes I waiver or I run the other way or I try to take the control out of Your hands. I know that Your will is perfect, Your timing is best and Your love is unmatched. Seeing and understanding Your divine dance (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) has absolutely blown my mind and captured my heart. I pray that You will continue Your pursuit of me and continue to transform me more and more into Your image. Create in me a clean heart, Oh God! Remove impurities that You see. We know how hard it is to go through the pruning process, but we also see the fruit that it bears and so we want more. Help me to surrender to You daily and thank You for taking what I have already surrendered. I pray to You Father God through Your Son Jesus Christ and by the power of Your Spirit. Amen.