The Big Picture - What's God DoingWhat's God Doing

You should have read the word picture of the 6-year-old by now. If not, go do so before reading this blog – or any other pages on this site. Read The 6-year-old picture story

This blog expands on what is on the home page and the FAQ on the big picture of what God is doing. As an “expansion” of the big picture, it is a long blog that touches on several important concepts. Also, there are many Bible references at the end — read them as they are God’s actual words on these topics.

Summary:
We are all looking for purpose and wholesome relationships. God is giving us a very brief time to let us see what happens when we get to do “what is right in our own eyes” without Him being visibly in our presence. And, like the tough day in the life of the 6-year-old, this 80+/- years is a blink of an eye in our eternal life. As that day should change the character of the 6-year-old so they will have a better future, the mess we see in this world should drive us to our loving and wise Heavenly Father. That will lead to blessings now and also prepare us for an eternity that is far better than what this world has to offer. It will also lead to much closer alignment to others during eternity in Heaven rather than the deep divisions we see in our world where everyone does what is right in their own eyes. To some level, we will experience some level of God’s blessings while here if we trust and follow His counsel while here on earth, but there will always be impacts of our “self” focused actions on ourselves and others.

The big picture timeline:

Eternity past: We are not given much info on eternity past in scripture, but it is clear that there was free will and the same struggle we have here between seeking “self” verses others and the resulting trust levels of God. Then, as now, the more you are about seeking “self”, the less you will trust God who is encouraging us to love others as much as ourselves. We know that one-third of the angels chose “self” and were cast out.
Brief time earth: We have 80 +/- years here. It is the only time period where God is not clearly visible to us. God describes it in a parable in Matthew 13:24-30 as a time where our true selves will be exposed. In other words, we will do what is right in our own eyes similar to driving on the freeway if we think there are no police around.
Eternity future: Heaven will only have people that made a decision that God is more loving and wise than us and will therefore be trusting His counsel. The result will be spending our time with people that have learned how to have wholesome relationships.
Note: The concept of “time” may not exist or may be dramatically different in eternity past and eternity future. Our biology will clearly be different from what we see in scripture. The more you think about how those two differences alone would affect values, goals, relationships, etc., the more you realize how easily it is to focus on the wrong things here. It also helps explain why God allows things to happen that bother us so much. The 6-year-old doesn’t understand why the parent is allowing the painful problem to continue because of the focus on “self” and “now”. Similarly, we do the same because of our focus this time on earth. Paul wrote much of the New Testament and established the majority of the Churches early expansion outside of Jerusalem/Israel. He wrote that as soon as his work here on earth was done, he wanted to get to Heaven. Some people emphasize Heaven as good because the alternative is Hell. But that misses the point that Heaven is amazingly better than here.

Upper and lower stories:

Upper story: The big picture of what God is doing. God left us 1,200 pages on that in the Bible. It includes the purpose of what He is doing, His truths and lots of picture stories which should lead you to trusting Him more than yourself. This site is designed to help understand these.
Lower story: What God is doing specifically in your life (and those around you). You will only start to understand this when you step into God’s two greatest commandments. Early steps include regular time in the Bible and prayer and learning / exercising your spiritual gift(s).

What God is NOT doing:

God is NOT trying to make this time on earth a small slice of Heaven. The parent of the 6-year-old doesn’t try to make the event “happy” because then the lesson will not be learned. But the parent is there to help the child understand what happened and why.
God is NOT evaluating us based on if we are “basically a good person”. No loving parent would only love their child when they are “being good”. They may implement or allow some consequences, but the foundation for that is love.

Two big picture issues:

Perspective misconceptions: The biggest thing keeping people from understanding what God is doing is that they have the same perspective misconception as the child in the 6-year-old word picture. Most people only see what is happening on this earth rather than how this very brief time fits into eternity. The 6-year-old just wants to be happy “now” with a new toy and doesn’t grasp the need to have more balanced character on spending. The wise and loving parent in the story is focused on the big picture of the child’s life. The interesting thing is that the child likely does not grasp the problem even when told about it. They just want support for doing things their way. Important concept: The child thinks that the parent is the one that doesn’t understand what is important or doesn’t care or is not capable of resolving their problem. We keep focusing on this very brief time on earth while God is looking at our character and our eternal life. As with the child, God would love for “now” to always be fun, but there are times when the big picture is more important than the “now”.
Values framework bias: Another big picture issue is that we judge everything according to our values framework because we are so confident it is the best values framework. But we don’t seriously try to understand why someone else can have a very different values framework. Try to answer the following question before reading two bullets below it:

What do all these groups have in common: Liberals, conservatives, creationists, evolutionists, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and atheists? Again, try to answer before reading the next two bullets.

Each surround themselves with people of like mind and so rarely get any tough questions
Each focus on data that supports their thought frameworks and ignore or explain away data that conflicts with it

It is a rare person that actually thoughtfully gives comparable time reviewing and understanding data sources that support other thought frameworks. It is even a more rare person that can have civil and complete conversations with people of opposing thought frameworks without just walking away in a short while. Most of us are perfectly comfortable with our confirmation bias supporting our framework and comfortable thinking negatively of others with different frameworks supported by their biased info.

Unconditional love:
A couple I knew had a teenager that was exceptionally smart. And, as happens sometimes, that got him in trouble and he landed in prison. After doing his time, he came out wiser and on a much more healthy path. He related how he knew during that time in prison that his parents loved him regardless of what he had done. In Romans 5:8-10, God let us know that while we were still fully in sin filled lives, He sent His son Jesus to redeem us. And that redemption covered ALL sins past, present and future. Wise and loving parents will implement rewards and consequences, but all will be in the context of love.

Human wisdom:
Mankind thinks it is wise and doesn’t need God. Yet, if you look around, mankind is continually creating strife. Mankind is self-seeking and misses the key life principles that God has set before us in the two greatest commandments: Seek the wisdom of our loving and wise Heavenly Father and love others as ourselves.

The free will problem:
When God created us, He had two choices. He could give us free will or He could design us so that we never do anything wrong (sound like a robot???). What would lead you to feeling more loved, if you never made a mistake or if you messed up bad and found your loving parent holding out their hand to lift you back up?

God gives us a level of free will, but wants a community in eternity for His family where people are not feeding His family with false perspectives on truth and what it means to love someone. Most of us think that we are basically good people, but question the values and actions of some people around us. What we don’t realize is that those other people likely have similar feelings about us because we all evaluate the world on our own personal value systems. Think about a wise and loving parent watching a group of 6-year-olds talk about how things should be run – it will be all over the board. God is like the wise and loving parent that can spot the children that have the wisdom to trust and which ones are instigators of bad values. The parent will think about that when deciding who can be friends with their child. So, God gave us free will, but God will also separate out those that are creating distrust of His love and wisdom. In Matthew 13:24-30, God gives a parable highlighting that this time on earth is about each of getting a lifetime to see what we do with our free will and whether we will trust God or ourselves. God is looking for those responding in faith to His loving and wise guidance to bring them into eternity as a part of His family. And if it bothers you that people like Hitler, Stalin and Putin can get away with what they have done, the same is true for them, but opposite. They have their time here to show their true self and Hell is a real place.

Our purpose here:
Our purpose here is to understand who is God and what He is doing. Once we understand that, we will then “desire” the two greatest commandments. That desire would be based on us understanding why it is better than what we would otherwise seek ourselves. How each person should live out the two greatest life principles will vary. To understand how, each person should:

Spend regular time with their loving and wise Heavenly Father (just like a growing child should with their parent)
Understand and exercises their spiritual gift(s) in order to be a blessing to those around then (it is more rewarding to give than to receive)

The goal:
God is our parent that wants to “guide” His children towards maturity through wise counsel and allowing a few hard experiences. The more we trust God and do as He guides, the more we will understand His wisdom and increase our faith in Him. God is setting up an eternal family that has that trust and so will have wholesome and fun relationships.

Eternity in Heaven. It is too bad that so many people think eternity is floating around playing harps. Many have heard of the room with angels playing harps. That is the Throne Room where God judges those that rejected Him. Think of it like a court room with the judge in a distinguishing robe and the room with “atmosphere” to communicate the seriousness and power of the situation. Heaven, the place God’s family will spend eternity, is described at the end of the Bible in Revelation 21 & 22. It has buildings, streets, trees and streams. In other words, we will be in a place similar, but nicer, than earth and is completely conducive to spending time together. Imagine time with people that have learned how to have healthy relationships. This entire time on earth is a time for us to make it clear if we are going to trust our loving and wise parent or reject Him so that there will be no doubt about who should go to Heaven and who will not. No decision is a rejection of God because you are basically saying “I got this”. More in the FAQ on “Heaven – Greatly Misunderstood” linked below which also includes why you clearly do not want the alternative.

A wise and loving parent here on earth sees a bigger picture than their child. That parent guides maturity and character growth through balancing a variety of experiences. That parent understands the limits of the child’s understanding at various stages of growth. The parent offers words of wisdom to the child, but it is up to the child to seek, to listen and to trust what they don’t yet understand. God is looking at our whole life, now and eternal, and offering guidance to us. But it is up to us to seek, listen and trust. As noted in the 6-year-old picture story, it is no coincidence that humans uniquely have integrated into our design the parent/child relationship where the child goes through many years of parental guidance to develop their maturity, character and values.

In summary:
God is giving us free will and will gather together in Heaven those that showed the insight to trust their loving and wise Heavenly Father.

God loves you like a good parent and wants a relationship with you
Like a good parent, God guarantees unconditional, nourishing love
God wants to teach you how to have healthy, wholesome relationships
God has purpose for this life that encompasses our whole life which includes this very brief time on earth and the fullness of eternity
Note that God placed us imperfect and biased people among other imperfect and biased people which includes Christians. A bunch of 6-year-olds will not find lasting and complete truth and harmony if left alone and need a loving and wise adult to get true perspective (I know, even adults are imperfect, but some are more wise than a group of 6-year-olds). Similarly, we need to seek God’s truths and wisdom rather than our own.

God summarizes all this in what He calls the two greatest commandments which are:

Truly recognize God is wiser than us which should be obvious if we honestly look around. Once we understand this mess is our own doing because of rejecting His guidance, that should drive to want to spend more time with God.
Love others as much as ourselves which would translate into actual actions with others including those with whom we don’t necessarily agree. Loving others like ourselves is easy. Liking those that are different is when we learn God’s love.

Learning these two principles is our purpose for being here as maturing preparation so that we can be a positive part of an eternity in Heaven that is fun and full of healthy relationships.

Read “Why does God allow bad things to happen”
Read “6-year-old picture story”
Read “Heaven – Greatly Misunderstood”
Back to FAQs

Bible references:

Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good…
Matthew 13:24-30 (summarized): A farmer planted wheat. While sleeping, an adversary planted tares among the wheat (tares are weeds that look similar to wheat when young). As the crop started to grow, the workers noticed signs of tares and asked if they should be pulled. The farmer said no because they might pull wheat also. He said to let things grow to maturity so that the wheat and tares were obvious. Then it would be safe to separate and pull the tares. (A parable where the enemy is Satan and the wheat and tares are people in their response to God.)
2 Corinthians 1:2-11 (Summary: God has made it clear that there will be hard times here because of human sin. But He will be there to provide comfort during those times)
Psalms 145:3 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. (perspective of King David who trusted God and was blessed)
1 Corinthians 2:11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. (just as a child cannot grasp all that a loving and wise parent is doing.)
Acts 5:32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him. (The people that knew Jesus personally understood that His guidance was better than their wisdom and should be trusted even if they do not yet understand.)
Hebrews 12:5-6 My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves
1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully. (We have a small glimpse of Heaven, but it will be better than we can understand right now.)
Heb 12:11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
John 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
2 Corinthians 7:9-10 As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
John 16:33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation.
Jeremiah 1:5 / Romans 9:11 / Psalm 139:13: God knew us while in the womb and had purpose for us.
Philippians 1:23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. (God picked Paul to write many of the letters in the New Testament and to be a missionary to many countries. Paul saw the value of what he was doing, but knew Heaven was a better place to be.)
Proverbs 10:17 Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life, but he who rejects reproof leads others astray.
Proverbs 13:1 A wise son hears his father’s instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.
Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
Hebrews 12:5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him”
Isa 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.
1Co 3:19-20 For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”
Rom 1:18-22 (Summarized) God is against all unrighteousness of men those that suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. His power and nature have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they saw God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking. Claiming to be wise, they became fools.