Some of it is heavy and slow reading. Some points about God's Communicable Attributes . . .
Communicable attributes are those attributes God has which He shares with us to a certain extent. There are a number of them, and I'm just going to list them. This is not an exhaustive list, since I came up with some which were not listed.
- Spirituality
- Invisibility / Visibility
- Knowledge
- Wisdom
- Truthfulness / Faithfulness
- Goodness
- Love
- Mercy / Grace, Patience
- Peace / Order
- Righteousness / justice
- Jealousy
- Wrath
- Will
- Freedom
- Omnipotence / Power
- Perfection
- Blessedness
- Beauty
- Glory
God's blessedness means that God delights in Himself and in all that reflects His character.
- I wondered if it is possible to some extent for me to delight in myself in a healthy, joyful, grace-filled way?
- • Can I do it to some extent, knowing I will never delight in myself with the same effectiveness and joy God does within Himself.
Under beauty, I read the following "The beauty of our lives is so important to Christ that His purpose now is to sanctify the entire church "that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish" (Ephesians 5:27). Thus, we individually and corporately reflect God's beauty in every way in which we exhibit His character. When we reflect His character, He delights in us and finds us beautiful in His sight" (Grudem, page 220).
When you think about those words from Ephesians 5:27, in a section about marriage, we see just how much Christ loves us and wants to show us off to His Father, presenting us as righteous. Folks, that is what the cross did for us. Jesus' death was the only way for God to claim us as righteous in His sight. The Son took upon Himself the very death we deserve.
What a great statement!!
I think it is possible to feel that blessedness (though to a lesser degree...). I think of times when God has used me, and I didn't get in the way. Afterward, I felt a sort of delight that I had been able to really help someone in their hour of need. I felt God put me in the right place at the right time and gave me the right words to use. It was great to be part of something like that. I really felt like an instrument of God, and that he spoke to me. And I didn't let my natural shyness and cautiousness interfere. So I think it's possible to have that blessedness, but only if it's part of something directed by God. Otherwise I think it would be more like false pride or vanity ("I'm so great for what *I* did!").
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