Skip to main content

God Loves Math: 1 John 3:24

In this blog post, I will look up a random Bible verse and consider how reading it in context and with a mathematical perspective can teach me something about God. 

Today I used this random Bible verse generator. The verse it gave me is 1 John 3:24.

"The one who keeps God's commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that God lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us."

Before I go any farther, I'm going to ask God to open my eyes and mind and heart to everything he has for me to learn from this verse.

In verse 23, it says that God's command is to "believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us." So the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God and who loves his neighbor as himself will live in God and God will live in that person. And God's Spirit is the evidence of God living in us. 

The first mathematical thought that comes to mind is the difference between 0.999 and 0.999...  They are both extremely close to 1. (Whether or not you agree that 0.999... = 1 is irrelevant here!) In multiple proofs, it can be proven that 0.999... functions as thought it IS 1. 0.999 is close to 1, but no one would argue that it is distinctly different from 1 and cannot function as 1. If we multiply 0.999... times 1,000,000, we get 999,999.999... if we multiply 0.999 times 1,000,000, we get 999,000. The first result would round to 1,000,000 even if we rounded to the nearest thousandth. The second is 1,000 away from 1,000,000. 

God's spirit sort of feels like the repeating decimal. You could argue that 0.999... is not equal to 1 just like Jesus dying for my sins is not the same as me dying for my sins. However, the result is the same, and it is sufficient and complete. Regardless of my shortcomings, there is something invisible but very much present that gets me to 1,000,000 without my own strength or ability. That's the Holy Spirit. 

Keeping God's commands sometimes feels like trying to write out all the 9's in 0.999... And that's the point. God uses my weakness to show his strength. God knows I can't do it alone so he sent Jesus. That doesn't mean I should use that as an excuse to sin. It means that I need the help of the Holy Spirit. And even though I know I will still mess up, sin should not be normative in my life. 

So I can be 1 even though I am just a bunch of repeating 9's because of God!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

God - Brilliant Mathematician and Trusting His Power

I've been working on creating a visual to go with Psalm 91 in desmos (a free online graphing software). Here's what I've come up with so far: I tried to show the fowler's snare (bottom left), deadly pestilence/plague/Corona virus (bottom right), the fortress of the Most High, an eagle with wings to give us refuge and protection, and a shield and rampart to represent God's faithfulness which will protect us from the "arrow that flies by night." To make my picture, I've typed in 181 mathematical equations so far. Here are just a few of them so you can get a better idea of what I'm talking about even if you don't totally understand the equations. I was reflecting (for the thousandth time) on how my understanding of mathematics leads me to a deeper understanding of God and his power. When I was first learning how to graph I started by plotting points. If I wanted to graph just one single line, I might graph two or all of these points an...

Second Chances

I've been thinking about second chances constantly lately. As an adult, think about all the times you've been given a second chance. I am not a perfect wife, but my husband gives me second chances all the time.  I tried to make cookies once with baking soda that was 2 years expired. They didn't turn out so great, but I have had other chances to bake things and I learned a value lesson about baking soda : ) I tried out for my church praise team and didn't make it. It was embarrassing and for a while I didn't feel like singing or playing the piano, but I can try out again and if I don't get so nervous next time, maybe I'll make it. I'm not banned forever because of one audition. I took the ACT twice when I was in high school, and my highest score was the only one colleges cared about.  My first year of teaching, I struggled quite a bit with classroom management. I needed more time and unfortunately first-hand experience to just begin lea...

God and Classroom Management

Ezekiel 20:11-13 "I gave them my decrees and made known to them my laws," (God gave clear and consistent expectations. I would bet he made sure they were available in multiple formats so people could both read and hear them.) "for the man who obeys them will live by them." (I have way more wisdom and knowledge, not to mentioned a fully developed frontal lobe. I know the results of those bad choices already, so seriously, listen to me for your own good...) "Also I gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between us, so they would know that I the Lord made them holy." (Here I imagine God feels like I do when I spend hours planning a hands-on lesson that would make me curious and excited as a student. I bet he looked forward to the Sabbath because he imagined how excited he would be as a human to have this day to rest and appreciate what a great and loving God they have. He wants us to know he loves us and wants what's best for us, just like I want my ...