A pastor said this in a sermon a few weeks ago and it struck me.
It makes me think about who I want God to be... and I think it's interesting the different characteristics we seem capable of getting hung up on at any given moment in our life.
When I'm feeling unworthy and loved, I assure myself that God is love.
When I'm feeling afraid and untrusting, I remind myself that God is faithful.
When I'm feeling like bad things keep happening, I tell myself that God is good.
When I'm feeling convicted of sins, there is no doubt in my mind that God is holy, holy, holy...
It's true that God is all of these things, but in specific moments it's easy for me to get caught up in which one of these things I want God to be vs. allowing Him to be exactly who He is... which is all of these things.
Think about it in terms of our relationships with other people. They are often a lot of things all mixed up in one package, right? You wouldn't ever say that your significant other's only redeeming attribute about them is that they are attractive...but that's just one part of who they are. They're attractive... and selfless, and funny, and gentle.... and the list hopefully goes on.
In any given moment with them, they might respond to you in way that isn't exactly what you want... but it's very true of who they are. Sometimes they hit the nail right on the head and their reaction is just what you wanted... and then we wish it were always like that... but it's not.
And it's mostly because we're selfish people. As we operate like this with other humans in life, it makes sense that we act the same way with the Lord. We want Him to be what we want Him to be when we want Him to be that way.
For example, when I've sinned and messed up.. I want God to be forgiving. I don't want His wrath, I don't want His judgement, I don't want His holiness... I just want to be forgiven, to know that I am loved, and to move on. But He is all of these things.
It isn't what we want to hear.
But, I can't help but wonder if we've confined God to a box of being who we want Him to be... and then we continue to shove Him further and further down when He continues to be exactly who He is. We become self-righteous and prideful, thinking that we have all the answers, that we have figured out just who God is.
I urge you to be wary of focusing on just one aspect of God's character at a time. At any given time He is more than that. So much more than that. Don't get so honed in on God being one thing that you miss out on the majesty of everything else that He is... even if you don't always like it, even if you don't always understand it.
He is.
And that's that.
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