There is a fine line between spending time with God and spending time on God. When we are spending time with God our focus is on Him. When we are spending time on God our focus is on what we are doing for Him.
We need to spend all of our time with God, aware of His constant presence and relating everything we do to Him.
They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them
As mentioned in the previous verse, the law was given to the Jewish people. They received the ten commandments written by God’s own hand as well as the books of the old testament. Other peoples did not have this revelation of God’s law written on stone and paper.
Nonetheless, all people have the law of God “written on their hearts.” Our conscience was given to us by God and is a direct revelation of His law to each and every person. Whenever our conscience accuses us of violating God’s law or excuses us when we follow it, we show the effect of His law written in our heart. As a result, we will all be without excuse when we stand before God, the righteous judge.
There has been a lot of emphasis placed on the image of God in the individual. This is right because we are each created in His likeness with the ability to know Him and have a relationship with Him.
The image of God in the individual is a clear reflection of the fact that there is only one God. Yet, the individual does not give a very clear picture of the three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that make up our one God.
How do we see the image of God-in-three-persons in people? One way is in our three part nature. We are made up of body, soul and spirit. The problem with this is that our body, soul and spirit do not interact with one another like the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit do.
The image of God-in-three-persons is more clearly seen in the family. God even uses family names, Father and Son, to describe their relationship to each other. The Holy Spirit is not called mother explicitly but much of His work is motherly. When a person is saved they are born again by the Spirit. This new babe in Christ is then nurtured, comforted, taught and brought to maturity by the working of the Holy Spirit in their life.
There are many rich pictures of our relationship to God that are rooted in the family. We are children of God the Father and Jesus, the Son, is our brother. We are the bride of Christ, chosen by the Father, who is preparing a marriage feast for us in the future.
It is clear that God intends for us to know Him and understand many things about Him. To this end, He created us in His image, both as individuals and in the most important relationships in life. It is amazing how He has revealed Himself to us by making us like Him in the most basic and fundamental ways. He intends for us to see Him in ourselves, our fathers, our mothers, our spouses and our children.
For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.
God gave the law to the Jewish people. They were wonderfully blessed to be chosen by God as the people He would reveal Himself to the whole world through. The rest of the world, the gentiles, were not directly given God’s revelation of Himself in the law.
Yet, He did not leave the rest of the world completely without knowledge of His law. Through the conscience, God has revealed something of His law to everyone. As a result, societies generally agree with God’s law as it relates to how people should treat each other. We naturally agree with many of the things that He requires.
As a result, peoples and societies with their natural agreement to God’s law become a revelation of His law to themselves. Even though they do not have the complete law of God, they will be held accountable for violating His law written in their conscience.
After God delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt by destroying Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea, they sang a song of praise to Him for His glorious work. In this song they asked the questions “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?” (Exodus 15:11) The implied answer is no one.
The word translated as “Lord” in this verse is Jehovah. So the question could be asked as “Who is like Jehovah among the gods?”
Jehovah just finished having a showdown with the gods of Egypt where He proved there is no other god like Him. In fact, those so called gods were not gods at all. They were false gods backed by Satan and his demons. Satan is not a god but is rather a supernatural creature that has fallen from holiness. He was originally created by God to serve Him and cannot compete with Him as god.
The second question brings out two things about Jehovah that makes Him different from all others. The first is His holiness. God is absolutely pure and not tainted in any way. Holiness carries the meaning of being set apart or separated from other things. God is singularly set apart from all other things and is absolutely incorruptible. There is truly none other like Him in holiness.
The second thing that makes God different from other gods is His ability to perform deeds that produce fear, awe and wonder. The bible is filled from the first to last page with awesome deeds that God has and will do. From original creation, to the flood, to the plagues of Egypt, to the incarnation, to the resurrection of Jesus, to the final judgment, to the creation of a new heaven and earth, Jehovah performs miracles that only He is capable of pulling off. There is none like Him who is “awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders”.