Sometimes the simplest truths can be the most profound. One that I’ve had churning in my head lately is this: “Anything other than God is not God.”
This truth allows me to divide everything in the universe into two categories, God and Not-God.
God=God
Nature=Not God
Science=Not God
Angels=Not Gods
Me=Definitely not God
Buddha, Allah, and the Dalai Lama=Not Gods
If there is only one God, then what does that say about the popular belief in dualism—that’s the theory that there are two Gods who are in conflict, dueling it out to see which one will prevail. In our culture, the two Gods are presumed to be Yahweh and Satan, each trying to take total control of the world. However, if only God is God and Satan is not, then dualism is wrong.
What is not God cannot become God. Satan has no hope of dethroning God. Knowing that, he has turned his sights on the created. You and I are his targets, not God. But Satan has no power to destroy what God has restored. Romans 8:31 asks the question, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” It then answers the question by saying that God is the only one who could, but He wouldn’t condemn someone he has chosen, called, and justified. I love how the chapter ends: “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39 ESV) Therefore, have no fear of anything that is not God.