Who do you like better – Father, Son or Holy Spirit? Who’s the ‘nicest’?
Have you ever noticed that each of the ‘persons’ of God seem to have different reputations? Everybody seems to like Jesus – He’s the nice guy. Not many understand the Holy Spirit and, therefore neglect Him – Francis Chan refers to Him as the “Forgotten God”. And, the Father is largely misunderstood as being angry and judgmental.
Hasty generalizations I know, but this can certainly be the widespread perception. The Trinity is 3 in one, right? Three God’s in one? Three personalities in one?
No. One God, not three. Three persons – not three personalities.
I was pondering this thought recently on a prayer walk: the fact that we tend to perceive each person of the Trinity differently. We understand them as three personalities. God the Father is the one who tends to get angry easily and quickly, Jesus is the great mediator who calms Him down, and the Holy Spirit does something that we are really not too sure of.
We can tend to see Jesus’ coming as some kind of Divine re-branding campaign. God was upset with His brand, with how He was perceived by mankind. Therefore, Jesus came to re-brand God so He wouldn’t be perceived as being so angry and mean.
However, that is not the case at all. The Trinity share one ‘heart’. They are one.
Now, I do not claim to be anything near a theologian, but I do know that Jesus came to reveal the Father. He came declaring that He does nothing unless He sees His Father doing it. He said nothing He didn’t hear His Father saying. He came to reveal the heart of the Father. Mankind did not understand the Heart of God and how He had created us to live – the government of God – so Jesus came to set the record straight.
Jesus came to demonstrate God’s heart to mankind and to set us free from that which kept us from living the way God had created us to live. Who Jesus is – His heart – is the Father’s heart. In fact, scripture tells us that all things in Him, through Him and to Him were created. Jesus was in the beginning. Jesus is throughout the Old Testament as well as the New – He was simply made manifest in the New Testament.
The Heart of Jesus is the heart of the Father and the heart of the Holy Spirit. One is not ‘nicer’ than another. They are one. I believe the Father has gotten a bum rap.
Look at Jesus and you will see the Father. The Father sent the Son to reveal His heart, to set us free from that which kept us outside the family of God, to reconcile us as His beloved children and begin to live the way were created to live. Jesus then sent the Holy Spirit to indwell us to change our spiritual DNA and empower us to live according to the constitution of the Government of God.
God is eternal, righteous, transcendent, immanent, immutable, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, one, personal good, holy, truth, love and incomprehensible. God has had to limit Himself so we can in some small measure understand Him – even in so much as using anthropomorphic language to help us comprehend His incomprehensibleness. i.e the ‘hands’ of God, the ‘face’ of God, etc.
The heart of Jesus we see in scripture is the heart of God the Father. And, the heart of God we see in the Old Testament is the heart of Jesus. Jesus in the old concealed, in the new is revealed.
The Father’s heart toward us is the heart of Jesus. Or perhaps more accurately, the heart of Jesus toward us is the heart of the Father. One is not ‘nicer’ than the other. One is not angry and judgmental. God’s heart toward us is one of delight, not disappointment.
Let’s draw near to God in full assurance that He loves us and has made a way for us to be in right relationship with Him as beloved sons, set free from sin by the blood of Christ and born again into the family of God by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit.
Colossians 1:16
“For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.”
Hebrews 4:16
“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
John 1:1-4
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.”