God Cannot be Less Than Himself
For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God. - Psalm 86:10
Sometimes, while reading, we come across a thought that touches on something that we weren't even aware of. I was reading some quotes from Anne Graham Lotz, the daughter of Billy Graham, when I came across one that spoke to me.
God cannot be less than Himself.
This statement grabbed me. I couldn’t read on because I knew God had led me to these words. Pragmatically, this remark is obvious, but that wasn’t why these words restrained me.
Do we unconsciously lower God to meet our faith instead of stretching our faith to meet the fullness of God?
We are saved by grace, through faith1. This saving faith remains with us the rest of our lives. It is this faith by which we pray, knowing God hears us2. This faith is how the words we read in our Bible connect us to Jesus. And pleasing God is impossible without this faith in Him.
And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. - Hebrews 11:6
So do we, by faith, believe that the God that Luke recorded in the Book of Acts, and Paul taught to the early local churches, is still as great? Are we living up to the high calling of God in Christ Jesus3? Let’s consider what the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write:
No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. - 1 Corinthians 2:11-12
When I fry a couple of eggs for breakfast, I wouldn’t season them with salt and pepper unless I knew about salt and pepper and how they could contribute to the flavor of my meal. But I do know, so I add them. In Christ, the egg is our salvation, and our spiritual lives are seasoned with flavor when we learn the wonderful things God has freely given us.
God is powerful, loving, and unchangeable. He loves justice and demands that we respect the poor. God cannot be less than Himself. Will we stretch to receive the fullness of our great God in us, and receive “the wonderful things God has freely given us,” or will we shrink back from His might and “quench the Spirit4?”
May we all receive God in His infinite greatness through our union with Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Footnotes
Ephesians 2:8-9 - English Standard Version. (n.d.). Bible Gateway. Retrieved June 23, 2025, from https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%202%3A8-9&version=ESV
1 John 5:14 - Effective Prayer. (n.d.). Bible Hub. Retrieved June 23, 2025, from https://biblehub.com/1_john/5-14.htm
Philippians 3:14 - Pressing Toward the Goal. (n.d.). Bible Hub. Retrieved June 23, 2025, from https://biblehub.com/philippians/3-14.htm
1 Thessalonians 5:19 - Christian Living. (n.d.). Bible Hub. Retrieved June 23, 2025, from https://biblehub.com/1_thessalonians/5-19.htm