How Do You See God?

‎

This is the question I have for you today.  How do you see God?  Some might see God as ruthless and mean casting judgment on everything that they do.  What is unfortunate is that most churches today have reinforced this picture of God by proclaiming from the pulpit that when some huge tragedy happens that God caused it to happen to change people of their evil and wicked ways.  Or to make it more personal when things aren’t going right in your own life, you get asked what did you do to grieve God and cause this to happen?  You can call it brain washing, deception, I call it being mislead.  

This misconception can rob you of the very heart of God.  Once you see God for who He truly is you will find a relationship that is so liberating that I can promise you, your life will never be the same.

Jesus said in the Gospel of John “To see me is to see the Father”.  If this is the case how then do you see Jesus?  Some see him as the little baby lying in a manger, some see him as a prophet, in answering the question that Jesus asked himself Peter said, “You are the Christ!”  The Bible also says that Jesus went about doing good… for God was with Him. John the Baptist in the Gospel of John sees Jesus this way;

John 1:29 (Amplified Bible)

The next day John saw Jesus coming to him and said, Look! There is the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world!

If you could take everything that Jesus did and continues to do and put it all into one word that word would have to be “LOVE”.  “To see me is to see the Father”

God Is Love!

In 1 John 4:7-10 (The Message) we find God described this way;

7-10 My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can't know him if you don't love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God.

I would like to take the time to read 1 Corinthians 13, it is known as the love chapter in the New Testament and is taught many times with the concept of how we should love each other and though this is true because of God’s love in us, I want to take the time to read it and let it give you the description of God’s love for you.  Read it this way in verses 3-10 replace the word Love with God. 

1 Corinthians 13 (The Message)

The Way of Love

1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 

2 If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. 

3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without (God) love. 

   Love (God) never gives up. 

   Love (God) cares more for others than for self. 

   Love (God) doesn't want what it doesn't have. 

   Love (God) doesn't strut, 

   (God) Doesn't have a swelled head, 

   (God) Doesn't force itself on others, 

   (God) Isn't always "me first," 

   (God) Doesn't fly off the handle, 

   (God) Doesn't keep score of the sins of others, 

   (God) Doesn't revel when others grovel, 

   (God) Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, 

   (God) Puts up with anything, 

   (God) Trusts God always, 

   (God) Always looks for the best, 

   (God) Never looks back, 

   But keeps going to the end.

8-10 Love (God) never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

11 When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

12 We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! 

13 But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

Does this change or help reinforce how you see God? I hope so!

In Ephesians 1:3-6 (The Message) God is described to be the God of Glory

3-6 How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He's the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.

Love is who God is and once you are able to take hold of this your whole life will change.  Jesus says it this way in; 

Matthew 11:28-30 (The Message)

 28-30 "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

I will close with this, keep your eyes on Jesus, and believe that what He has is yours.  

Live your life knowing that God loves you and remember the words from Paul in:

1 Thessalonians 5:9- 11 (The Message)

 9-11 God didn't set us up for an angry rejection but for salvation by our Master, Jesus Christ. He died for us, a death that triggered life. Whether we're awake with the living or asleep with the dead, we're alive with him! So speak encouraging words to one another. Build up hope so you'll all be together in this, no one left out, no one left behind. I know you're already doing this; just keep on doing it.

Jesus said, “To see me is to see the Father”

God Loves You!