Godward God exists to join God in making much of God.* If you are going to have a website, I say it should be focused on God’s supreme treasure—namely God Himself. I explain the biblical theology behind this Scriptural truth in What Does Godward God Mean.
In a day in which so many internet sites (and especially Christian blogs) are focused on establishing one’s own self-made identity using the tools of the age (first and foremost, social media), this site exists to do the very opposite—to make its focus on making much of God.
To be sure, God has created people uniquely in His image to glorify Him in a thousand particular ways. And yes, Greg Salazar is one of those people and is the primarily person who is featured in the articles, videos, and other content. However, Greg’s prayer, purpose, hope, aim, and desire is that he would merely be a windowpane through which readers and listeners would look through to see the glory of God almighty.
Goal #1: God-Centeredness and Private Piety
At this site, the implications of God’s own pursuit of His own self-exultation for His glory and our joy are expounded in two main areas of life— namely, in the private life of piety and the public life of the Church and society.
In Edwards’s End for Which God Created the World he connects the believer’s pursuit of holy living with God’s own commitment to His perfection. Edwards explains that the reason why God is pleased when His people live holy lives is because they reflect His very character back to Him. “As God delights in his own beauty,” Edwards says, “he must necessarily delight in the creature’s holiness; which is a conformity to, and participation of it.”[1] He says believers reflect his holiness in the same way a jewel reflects the sun’s light: “as truly as the brightness of a jewel, held in the sun’s beams, is a participation, or derivation of the sun’s brightness, though immensely less in degree.”[2] In short, the reason God delights in our holiness is because He delights in seeing His own perfection on display. Thus, at Godward God we exist to promote individuals’ joy through encouraging believers to pursue lives of personal holiness. We believe that holiness is happiness and happiness is holiness. And that our holiness delights the heart of God because he enjoys seeing His perfections on display.
Goal # 2: God-centeredness and the Public Good
This site is also concerned with the promotion of a biblical worldview and applying that biblical worldview to the pressing cultural and theological issues of our day. In Edwards’s Charity and Its Fruits (a series of sermons he preached in 1738 on 1 Corinthians 13) he outlined the reason why Christians should be concerned with the promotion of a biblical worldview for the public good. He said, “a Christian spirit…disposes persons to be public spirited. A man of a right spirit is not of a narrow, private spirit; but he is greatly concerned for the good of the public community to which he belongs, and particularly of the town where he dwells.” [3] According to Edwards, Christians pursue the public good even though they are living in a world that is hostile to Christ’s Church. Commenting on Jeremiah 29:7, “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare”, he said, “God commanded the Jews that were carried captive to seek the good of the city of Babylon, though it was not their own city, but the city which had captivated them.” He says, “a Christian spirited man will be also concerned for the good of his country, and it disposes him to lay out himself for it.”[4] Indeed, to be a Christian is to be like Christ, focused not on the good of oneself, but others. As Philippians 2:3 says, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” This means not only individually, but to seek the public good of the Church and hope for the kingdom of God to come to the world through the promotion of a biblical worldview and applying that biblical worldview to the pressing cultural and theological issues of our day.
*The views expressed at this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary or Trinity Presbyterian Church.
[1] Jonathan Edwards, Dissertation Concerning the End for Which God Created the World, in Ethical Writings, ed. Paul Ramsey, vol.8 in Works of Jonathan Edwards (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989), p.442.
[2] Edwards, The End for Which God Created the World, in WJE, 8:442.
[3] Jonathan Edwards, Charity and Its Fruits, in Ethical Writings, ed. Paul Ramsey, vol.8 in Works of Jonathan Edwards (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989), 260–1.
[4] Edwards, Charity and Its Fruits, in WJE, 8:260–1.