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Our View of God
The other day my wife and I were having a conversation about raising children (no sorry mom…we’re not having you a grandchild yet, ha). My wife was telling me about a child development class she had taken years back. One of the things that she really took out of the class was an example the teacher had used to show how to discipline children.
The teacher stood up on a table and had the whole class sitting down while she corrected them from above. My wife said she felt really intimidated looking up at this lady who seemed so much bigger standing on that table. Then the teacher came down to their level and met them eye to eye when she was correcting them. The whole perspective was totally different.
What the teacher was showing them was how large and intimidating a parent can look to a child. The child is more apt to listen if you get down on their level and correct them accordingly. No one wants a larger person yelling at them. Imagine standing next to Shaq and him looking down and belittling you. Or have you ever been in court in front of the judge? I can remember standing there looking up at the judge praying that he’d have mercy on me for one of my various traffic offenses.
I think sometimes we tend to think of God like that. We see Him as this old man with a white beard up in Heaven looking down on us waiting to strike us with lightning if we do something wrong. God is a God of love, not fear. Yes, we do need to have that respect and reverence for Him and we do need to go to Him for repentance when we fall and sin, but He is more than just a judge and a punisher.
God in the Old Testament was kind of scary. We see Him destroying whole cities with fire and causing a flood to destroy the entire world. We see the descriptions of God in the Bible that says He is a jealous God full of wrath. His eyes are full of blazing fire and His mouth is like a double-edged sword. How are we not supposed to be afraid of Him?
Over 2,000 years ago, God sent His only begotten Son to earth to be that connection between man and Him. Jesus, in essence, got down from the table like that teacher in my wife’s class and met us here on earth eye to eye. That viewpoint of God being the judge and executioner was changed. We no longer had to live a “perfect” life in order to make it to Heaven. Jesus’ death covers our transgressions.
Are you afraid of God? Do you think of God as a judge and executioner? When you sin do you feel like you have to hide from God? I think the Garden of Eden is a great story of love and redemption. Adam and Eve took a bite of the forbidden fruit and sinned against God. They felt like they needed to hide from God and cover up with leaves. God knew all along that they had sinned and where they were at, but He still called for them. Ashamed, Adam and Eve came forward and told God what happened.
There were consequences for their sins and they were banned from Eden. But God did do something that I found amazing. He killed an animal and used the skin to cover Adam and Eve. This was the first display of mercy in the Bible. That was a symbol of what Jesus would do for us on the cross years later. He would become that sin covering for all mankind.
God loves you. I know I say this all the time, but it’s true. You can run to Him when you need Him. You can cry out to Him when you’re hurting. You can come to Him when you mess up. You can go to Him anytime with anything. Let your viewpoint of God be of mercy and compassion and grace and love.
- geno
www.PutHimFirst.com
GOD’S GRACE IS MORE THAN ENOUGH FOR ME. IT IS MORE THAN SUFFICIENT. IT IS MORE THAN I COULD EVER ASK FOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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