If you were God, where would you go to be impressed? Conversation with any of your creatures, even the grandest, costs an infinite lowering of yourself. What could entertain your limitless mind? Whose character and accomplishments could take you aback? Where could you find beauty and grace enough to ravish you?
Nothing can satisfy God but another infinite, eternal being. For God, the real intoxication comes as he stares in the mirror—which is the Trinity. Three-As-One, he draws life and enjoyment from no one but himself. He sustains his own existence and fans the flame of his own emotional life. He is his own best friend.
The Spirit is the quiet one. Sharing equal deity and status with the others, he nevertheless flows from the Father and the Son. But it’s the Son who commands center stage. The Spirit points to him, and the Father never stops bragging about him, “Here is my…chosen one in whom I delight” (Isa. 42:1). Why does the Father treasure him so? Because he sees himself in his Son. His own perfections are flawlessly reflected there. The Son is God standing in the mirror.
What does the self-sufficiency of God mean to us? God is joy, love, contentment, and abundance spilling over. This is where his mercy comes from. This is why God is more than able to give and keep on giving. The full tank of love he enjoys is splashing out over heaven’s walls, and he is driven to share his elation with us. Why? Simply, as he put it in John 15:11, “so that my joy may be in you.” (Estes)
I praise you, Lord, for being all-sufficient in yourself. You have need of nothing, and this is good news for the rest of us. I’m grateful that your joy and peace are so plentiful, your mercy so abundant, that I can catch the overflow. Thank you for this. |
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