A Photograph of God

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

1 Peter 2:24

24He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.

John 3:17

17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

So many of the lost and, sadly, many of those who are saved have an obscured and simply wrong image of who God is. Many see God as a disinterested by-stander who looks down on the world as his own personal Soap Opera. Others see God as a vindictive dictator who sits around all day looking for a reason to drop the hammer when we mess-up. Neither of these two scenarios is factual.

In the first place, God is not disconnected from our lives. In fact God is interwoven into the fabric of a believers being. The soul, the essence of who we are has a roommate in the Holy Spirit when we accept Christ into our lives.
Acts 2:38
Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

As mentioned in the devotional series The Trinity--Three in One (available in the archived devotionals link) the Holy Spirit is one of the three persona's God reveals himself as. The Holy Spirit is the gift of God to modern man. Upon receiving salvation and being baptized the human receives the Holy Spirit into their lives. The Spirit is sent as an instructor to teach us the ways of God and help us to discern his call in our lives. The Spirit helps us to understand what in our lives is Godly and also convicts us when things in our lives are ungodly.

With God choosing to exist even within us, choosing to guide us, choosing to speak to our very essence, I think it would be a hard sell to say that God is a disinterested spectator. This idea though is popular among those who have approached God with a half-hearted faith and have not received the desires of their heart. Humans were never intended to go to God for proof that he is there. However, often times those who are "testing the waters" make prayerful requests such as," if you will only.... then I will believe." Unfortunately when these requests don't always pan out the short lived experiment with God dies out. These people may not deny the existence of God but often times will say that if there is a God, he doesn't care what happens to us here on Earth.

These individuals remind me of the Parable of the Sower in Matthew chapter 13. The word has fallen on the ground and began to sprout, but when the heat of the sun shines down the plant whithers because it was not rooted. We must be rooted in faith and faith means believing that God cares deeply for you and me.

The second type of mis-analysis people often have is that God is looking down waiting like the little boy with the magnifying glass. If those little ants down there set one foot out of line, zap. While God is not sitting back disinterested, he is not eagerly awaiting our next slip in order to reign down fire. Unfortunately there are many people, Christians and non-Christians alike, who have this very image of our loving God.

I have heard some psychologists say that this happens especially when people have had a father figure who was overly critical. Since we relate to God as our heavenly Father sometimes we relate characteristics of our Earthly father back to God. While I do not go in for a lot of psycho-babble, there is a certain logic to the idea. It would seem also to me that those who have a hard time reconciling God's forgiving nature might subscribe to this image.

Psalm 103:12

12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
Humans are a fickle creature with a fickle nature. We may forgive you but it does seem that we never forget. How often have you had an argument that ended up heading down the road of transgressions already forgiven. When God forgives though, he does so perfectly and completely. All he asks is that we come before him and acknowledge our failings and ask for his forgiveness. God is faithful and throws it as far as the east is from the west, an unmeasurable expanse that is always growing. He doesn't put it in the back of his mind and save it up for the next argument, God throws it away.

Not only does God forgive perfectly, he also reaches out to us perfectly. As John 3:17 reminds us, he sent his Son into the world with the express mission to die an atoning sin for you and me. I don't know about you, but when I think of a tyrant I don't think of a person who would sacrifice those most dear to himself for the greater good. Again, why would God make such an extreme sacrifice to save us if his goal was to punish us? No, God is merciful and loving. He looks for ways to reach out a loving hand not to smash us under his thumb.

As a wise man once said when you remove all the possibilities that a thing could be, then what ever else still remains, no matter how unbelievable it may seem, must be the answer. So if God is not a task master waiting with his whip and he is not a disinterested slob of a deity with no desire to help in anyway, what is left? God is a caring and involved Lord who desires what is best for us and wants us to commune with Him. He also must be caring and loving, forgiving and generous, kind and compassionate. Great is our God!