Day 11 ~ The Purpose Driven Life ~

When is 1 + 1 + 1 = 1 and not 3 ?

 

From Rick’s pen on this 11th day we get this union address; “Friendship with God is possible only because of the grace of God and the sacrifice of Jesus. “All this is done by God, who through Christ changed us from enemies into his friends.” ⁴ The old hymn says, “What a friend we have in Jesus,” but actually, God invites us to enjoy friendship and fellowship with all three persons of the Trinity: our Father, 5 the Son, 6 and the Holy Spirit.” (PDL – Rick ©)

This raises the question of the triune God.  This unity then becomes a foursome as you are included. Then 1+1+1+1=1 and not 4?

So, how does all this happen? Some years ago when I was still struggling with the concept of the triune God, namely God the Father, God the son and  the Holy Spirit formed the triune God. I had heard many explanations about this unity but they all fell short of forming a unity. Many people use the egg as an example of the unity. Namely the shell, the white, and the yoke together forming  the egg which is one egg.
This still represented to me a division and not a true unity.  So what will God do about this? He sent me somebody who needed this question answered. What? How is that an answer?  
On the first day that we met,  we naturally began speaking about Christianity. Her problem was that she was stuck with the same question  that I had, namely, how can three different entities be one. For purposes of the story I will refer to her as Gabriela.

Gabriela was in her fifth year at Oxford and doing her doctoral in mathematics. She was trying really hard at grasping the full concept of the triune God. Despite this, Gabriela accepted that some things were difficult to grasp,  and we often have to accept as Christians that there are going to be elements that we simply have to believe, having faith in the truth of the Book.

So I set about the process of teaching, and she set about the process of learning to drive.
In-between we discussed various matters about God that interested both of us. When she posed this question, about the workings of the Trinity, to me on the first day that we met, I simply said I needed some time to think about it. At the same time I seriously asked God for some help. He and I both knew that I was in trouble.

The course  which she was studying with me was to end some 12 days later. On the day before her test I asked Gabriela this question “When does 1+1+1=1”.

I had no idea where the question had come from. I did not have an answer for this and it was clearly something that God had prompted me to ask. If she was stumped for an answer I was completely out of my depth.

I literally felt the fear of God at  that moment. Gabriela retorted “That’s really a stupid question you know that equals three and not one.”

Now what? But totally flustered in my spirit I heard myself answer quite calmly “No you are wrong.”

Gabriella remained silent for a while, I could see the cogs of her brain kicking in. Then suddenly the light went on in her eyes. A smile crept across her face and she answered, “Of course there is a situation where 1+1+1=3”.

And I’m thinking “Really?”. With a big question mark. Gabriella fills me in “It’s when the same thing exists in three different dimensions.”

When Gabriella got this answer out to both of us the truth of the triune God struck both of us simultaneously.

At that very moment, I knew that we had been given a revelation about how God is across different dimensions.

Namely;
His eternal presence outside of time is God the Father;
His presence in time on this earth and still represented to us in our time dimension is Jesus Christ;
and His ever presence with us is the Holy Spirit which we have been granted as his children.

It is all the same God represented in three different dimensions.

Now we know that we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, if we are born of the Spirit;

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. In a little while, the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you. Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.”  John 14:18-21 (BSB)

So on Pentecost, the Holy Spirit is released to all his disciples, to this very day. So now we are all ONE.

God the Father, Christ the Son, the Holy Spirit and You as disciple of Christ.

4 entities all occupying different dimensions in space and time.

“that all of them may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I am in You. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. 
I have given them the glory You gave Me, so that they may be one as We are one — I in them and You in Me — that they may be perfectly united, so that the world may know that You sent Me and have loved them just as You have loved Me.” John 17:21-23 (BSB)

Cloak yourself in Christ and move in his strength.

“I want you to be fully convinced about this, anyone whose belief concludes in who I am will also do the works I do. And because of my going to my Father the works that the believer will do will be of greater proportion and of global influence; the Father is as present in you as he is in me because of my going to do what I am about to do.”  John 14:12 (Mirror Bible)

When you befriend Christ there will be consequences!

Read the chapter marked Day 11 – The Purpose Driven Life – Rick Warren. (PDL – Rick ©)

More reading material; http://purposedriven.com/day11/

References:
4 ~ 2 Corinthians 5:18a (TEV)