Just who is God? What is the nature of God? A recent USA Weekend Magazine had an article “How Americans Imagine God” that dealt with these questions. The article reminded us that 9 out of 10 Americans believe in God or “some higher power.” But what do people actually believe about God?
Here are some of the quotes offered about individual’s personal concepts of God. “God speaks to us through the voice of reason and the light of love.” “Like me because she is me and I am her. She is something you feel within your soul.” “A kernel of positive electromagnetic power in each of us, a remnant of the origin of the universe that can flare up within us in the form of grace or inspiration.” “We live in a pantheistic universe.” “Outsourcing responsibility for the universe and its behavior to a deity works for some, but not for me.” “God does not erect borders of separation and distance. God busts open every barrier that would seal us in our aloneness.” “A great loving Father who lets me climb into his lap.” “Standing above the clouds, one arm folded across his chest, the other with his hand on his chin.” “Sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple with angels praising Him saying Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty!”
As the article points out, “No two are the same, and each is intensely personal deeply passionate.” It goes on to add, “For Americans today, God quite simply, is love. Christians, Hindus, Jews, and Buddhists alike describe a loving presence who offers a pathway to goodness, peace, and brotherhood.”
Truly, God is love (1 John 4:8). He does offer the way to peace (Eph. 1:2), all that is good (2 Thess. 1:11), and fellowship with Him and through Him (1 Cor. 1:9). The question is, how do we define His love, or goodness, peace, and fellowship? As seen in the quotes above, God is whatever one wants Him to be, and His attributes those defined by the needs and desires of each individual. This is true not just of the world in general, but even in the Lord’s church, many tend to create God in their own image. While this may gratify one’s feelings, or appease one’s conscience, is it fact? Can we make up God as we go along through life, or is there something more tangible we must accept?
Scripture, of course, reveals itself to be God’s communication to humanity, inspired, God breathed to us (2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:20-21). It authenticates itself through its historical accuracy and its fulfilled prophecies, that we can have confidence it is not the work of human imagination, but the very will of God. While Scripture does tell us we can know there is a God from creation itself (Psalm 191-6; Rom. 1:20), only through the Bible can we know the very nature of God, how He has revealed Himself to us through His Son, Jesus Christ, who is our only means of forgiveness and eternal life, and how to live to please Him so we can inherit eternity. As Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Peter also reminds us, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
God is love, but He is also a righteous God (Psalm 119:137; 2 Tim. 4:8), and has established the right way for us to live. There is coming a day of judgment for us all (2 Cor. 5:10), and His word is the standard by which we will be judged, how we have lived by His will for us (John 12:48; Heb. 4:12-13), not our desires or feelings. This is not so difficult we can’t understand it, it’s just Satan has done a masterful job at deceiving everyone into thinking what they want to believe and do will be okay with God. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (Prov. 14:12).
As we begin 2011, may we renew ourselves to spending time each day in God’s word, so we can know with certainty what God’s will is for our lives. May we make it our goal to submit to His will for us, not deceive ourselves into thinking He will mold Himself into our image. May we seek through faith to live by His commands and principles for us, and in doing so find genuine love, peace, joy, hope, grace, mercy, and promises for life. May we know with assurance, through God’s word, we have a genuine relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. What a great new year it will be, if this is what we set as our heart’s desire.