To believe in God as He presents Himself in the Bible is an act not of understanding but of submission. Here is an odd way I came to see this more clearly…
On a lengthy plane ride not long ago, I had a good conversation with a guy I now consider a friend. His name is Mohammed, not THE prophet of Islam, but a Muslim adherent. He and I, a follower of Jesus (Isa in the Qur’an) had a stimulating dialog about Isa and God being one.
When we think of God using only our limited minds, we cannot fathom Him. But “God is the greatest” (Allah Akbar) and of another kind than us, so we should not be surprised that we cannot fully understand Him. That is why Jesus had to come to earth. He revealed Himself and the Father and the Holy Spirit. God is so great that He has loving fellowship eternally within Himself, three persons, each divine, together one God. To believe in this Tri-une (three-in-one) God, accepting Him as one yet three, requires faith beyond knowledge. Even to believe in God as He presents Himself in the Bible is an act not of understanding but of submission (Submission is the first pillar of Islam, and an expression of Love in the Bible).
Here is what my friend Mohammed helped me to see. If I say God cannot be three but must only be one, then I am insisting that God conform to my requirements. After all, a God who is strictly one is acceptable to my way of thinking. Conversely, I can understand there being three Gods, for I can then merely set the three in a row and pray to each of them according to their preferences. Hindus make this system work for 330 million gods, so the multiplicity of gods is acceptable to the human brain.
So the mind readily understands one God, three gods, or millions of them. These concepts do not require a submission of my heart and mind to a reality I cannot comprehend. No, they are very palatable to my natural way of thinking.
Only the God of the Bible asks me to surrender my heart and mind to the highest concept of God, one that rises above human understanding, and asks me to accept God as He is, not as I define or understand Him. Yes, even the belief in such a God, three in one, is a profound act of faith which is the first step in pleasing Him, and the first step in receiving all the benefits of knowing Him forever. For He invites us to join the loving fellowship within Himself for all time and eternity, not as gods ourselves, but as sons and daughters who inherit His Kingdom and worship Him forever.
[Picture attribution: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/]
