If our first Axiom: God is always present and at work, then that’s only good news if the God who is always present is good.
WHAT IS GOD LIKE?
Sometimes it is easier to grapple with who God is by first exposing who God is NOT.
FOUR WAYS WE INCORRECTLY IMAGE GOD
1. The Distant Deity
This is the God who exists "out there" disconnected from our real life. This incorrect image is revealed in our efforts to get his attention, and our attempts to persuade him to come and do something.
In the story of Elijah vs. the priests of Baal, we can recognize the distant deity in Baal and his priests than in the God of Elijah. (1 Kings 18:20-40
This is the Distant Deity and NOT the God who is always present and at work
2. The Demanding Judge
This is the God who punishes wrongdoing swiftly and severely; is very offended by sin, and can't even tolerate seeing it; and fluctuates between disappointment/annoyance with us, at best, to being willing to use violence to get us in line, at worst.
This incorrect image of God is revealed in our own judgmental positions toward others, as well as our overall misunderstanding of justice.
This isn't how Jesus was with sinners
3. The Deterministic Micromanager
This is the God who must meticulously control everything that happens (no matter how minute). This god is so insecure that he must be in direct control of everything so that nothing gets too out of line.
This incorrect image shows up when we use "God is in control" as a means of releasing us from any responsibility in dealing with a broken world. It is also revealed in our paralysis from participating in God's will, out of fear that we will not do the specific right thing.
God wants people he can empower to do what they already want to do.
4. The Doting Grandfather
Often, our first reaction after rejecting the first three is an overcorrection. It relieves us from our guilt and shame but traps us in the pursuit of our own desires. We compensate by chasing a God who doesn't ever challenge or convict us.
We can recognize this incorrect image of God when he looks like a wish-granting genie, giving us whatever we want.
God wants to heal our desires in order to release us to pursue them with him.
SO WHAT IS GOD ACTUALLY LIKE?
...Jesus!
Jesus is the most accurate image of who God is. How we see Jesus reacting to us, is how God reacts to us; how Jesus thinks of us is how God thinks of us; what Jesus does for us is what God does for us.
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