Our misconceptions of God don’t hurt Him; they hurt us and rob us of tremendous riches of peace, love, faith, and joy. Many assume that God is a judgy, controlling patriarch waiting to catch us doing wrong. Others feel He is very far off and could care less about our pain, struggle, and sorrow. Human beings are still discovering His creations in the mass of sciences and discoveries. We get erroneous images of an angry, callous, uncaring God from how we see/saw our parents, governments, and authorities or our faulty logic. For thousands of years, every society and government used religion, superstition, and fear to control its masses. God doesn’t operate like that; His motivation is selfless love; His M.O. is truth and grace. If we want to know God better, we must be open to God revealing who He is, and seek Him.
I will be found by you, declares the Lord
Jeremiah 29:14
When We Judge God
It takes nothing from God when we judge Him; it grieves Him for only one reason: we hurt ourselves. By not knowing Him for who He is, we miss His grace, forgiveness, and love for us. We are the reason why He sent Jesus to take our punishment for our sins. He didn’t create us to judge or ignore us, and He definitely didn’t make us for hell. He created us with free will to choose good or evil. However, God provided forgiveness at the greatest price because humans chose to sin. Our God isn’t mad at us, He put that on Jesus, He wants us to come to Him and know His great love for us.
For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
Jeremiah 29:11
Who God Is
Jesus said in John 14:9 that when we see Him, we see the Father. Have we taken time to see Him truly? To know Him, we need to get to know and see the Jesus of the Bible. Searching the gospels and watching how Jesus behaved is a key to how God feels about us. He healed, loved, delivered, forgave, and hated injustice, oppression, and hypocrisy. His most angered speech is to the religious hypocrites. When temple merchants cheated the poor in God’s name, an enraged Jesus chased them out and overturned their money tables. He healed the sick, gave to the poor, fed the hungry, courageously spoke the truth, and laid down His life to take our punishment for sin. This is our God.
Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.
John 14:9
Prayer
Lord, I wait for You. Show me thoughts and misconceptions that wrongly alter how I see you and rob me of grace, love, forgiveness, and joy. Lead me through Your word and help me see You in truth. I will seek You in the gospels and am determined to replace any preconceived idea with the truth in Your word. God, thank you for loving me first and sending Jesus ahead of time to pay the price for my sins so that I may come into Your holy presence. Help me understand and know Your life-changing love that I may, in turn, give to others. Thank you, God, In Jesus’ name.
O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
Psalm 34:8
