One of the things I have noticed over the past few years of debating and defending my faith with a host of skeptics is that there is a common thread behind most of their questions. It goes something like this - "why would God do that?". Why would God ask Abraham to sacrifice his son - didn't he already know what he would do? Why would God punish people for eternity in Hell for something as simple as unbelief? Why would God require the shedding of blood (especially a human) as a way to atone for sins? Why would God create people who would disobey him? Why, why, why??
These are all excellent questions, and there are many, many more. Excellent because they cause us to really dig deep for answers, the result of which is the strengthening of our faith. In particular, they cause us to ask the foundational question "what is God's motivation for doing what he does?" Over the next few days -- or perhaps weeks and months -- I am going to take a look at the ways in which scripture demonstrates the answer to this question, which is found in Romans 11:36:
"For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen"
The general principle that we can take from the verse as it pertains to God's motivation is that everything that is, everything that exists, happens, and in turn everything that God does is for him. "For ... to him are all things. To him be glory forever." God's glory is the ultimate motivation for everything that God does.
God's ultimate motivation is not to make us happy; it is not to provide for us; it isn't even to save people. This is not the ultimate reason that God has for all that he does. There is something far greater, more foundational at work behind the scenes of all the good and bad and ugly that we experience in this fallen world.
-- Brian
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