What comes into your mind when you think about God?
“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”
AW Tozer
Left to my own devices I imagine a God that’s like me. The Bible presents a wonderfully different God - one that I would never imagine.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
(Galatians 1:3-5)
I don’t expect grace from God. I tend to think he’s a jobsworth policeman or an impersonal force. I might expect justice or ambivalence. I might be full of shame and expect punishment or full of pride and expect reward, but I don’t expect grace - unmerited favour
I don’t expect peace from God. I might expect a contract - I do something right and he owes me something good. But that’s not peace, it’s just a lack of hostility while the terms of the agreement hold.
I don’t think God is glorious. I’m flippant and self important in the face of someone who, any time He turns up in the bible, leaves people cowering in fear. I might think he’s powerless or uninvolved but not glorious.
The cross shows me something entirely different. God gave himself for my sins to deliver me from evil. When I recognise that my sin deserves death, fear of deserved judgement overwhelms me. But when I see Jesus on the cross in my place, suddenly grace comes into focus. I am blessed when I deserve to be cursed, I am given peace when I was an enemy, and fall to our knees in awe of this glorious God.
How I think about God shapes my entire life. I need to let God define who He is instead of defining him myself. Tweet this
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