Because God is a Trinity

"God is love": those three words could hardly be more bouncy. They seem lively, lovely and as warming as a crackling fire. But "God is a Trinity"? No, hardly the same effect: that just sounds cold and stodgy. All quite understandable, but the aim of this book is to stop the madness. Yes, the Trinity can be presented as a fusty and irrelevant dogma, but the truth is that God is love because God is a Trinity.

For it is only when you grasp what it means for God to be a Trinity that you really sense the beauty, the overflowing kindness, the heart-grabbing loveliness of God. If the Trinity were something we could shave off God, we would not be relieving him of some irksome weight; we would be shearing him of precisely what is so delightful about him. For God is triune, and it is as triune that he is so good and desirable. 

Christianity is not primarily about lifestyle change; it is about knowing God. To know and grow to enjoy him is what we are saved for. Nonetheless, getting to know God better does actually make for far more profound and practical change as well. Knowing the love of is the very thing that makes us loving. Sensing the desirability of God alters our preferences and inclinations, the things that drive our behavior: we begin to want God more than anything else. 

The triune nature of this God affects everything from how we listen to music to how we pray: it makes for happier marriages, warmer dealings with others, better church life; it gives Christians assurance, shapes holiness and transforms the very way we look at the world around us. No exaggeration: the knowledge of this God turns lives around.

Excerpt from Delighting in the Trinity by Michael Reeves