I have been reading a book called Life Without Lack by Dallas Willard, and I came across this description of God, written by Adam Clarke, who was a 19th century Methodist theologian. I know, like all theologians, he was imperfect and skewed by his culture and worldview. But this description is pure beauty. God is:

“The eternal, independent, and self existent Being; the Being whose purposes and actions spring from himself, without foreign motive or influence; he who is absolute in dominion; the most pure, the most simple, the most spiritual of all essences; infinitely perfect; and eternally self-sufficient, needing nothing that he has made; illimitable in his immensity, inconceivable in his mode of existence, and indescribable in his essence; known fully only by himself, because infinite mind can only be fully comprehended by itself. In a word, a Being who, from his infinite wisdom, cannot err or be deceived, and from his infinite goodness, can do nothing but what is eternally just, and right, and kind.”

Just reading it fills me with peace.

Illimitable in his immensity.

Indescribable in his essence.

Infinite goodness.

Eternally just, right, and kind.

I think I’ll keep reading it slowly, all week.