Reducing God.

Photo by Jeff Samuel

We started with our stories of God as we sat in the old dusty room full of books and alpine shelves. ‘What do you see God as?’ the teacher asked.

Petite Lovette Pretty-Face dropped her Marc Jacobs bag that could hold a new born baby and started ‘I see God as. . . ‘She went on, wiped a tear a time or two, adjusted a golden brooch on her big lapel and smiled at the end.

‘What do you see God as?’ asked the teacher looking straight at Mr Longhorn Sleepy-mind. He ranted about his life experiences, how he has come to love the quiet and nature. ’I see God as’ He kept saying. He had a lot to say but half way I caught myself and Lovette Pretty-Face dozing our heads off. No wonder the name.

The next person was the nameless guy down the road. ‘I see God as. . . ’ he started. At a point I was lost cause I thought God had no more names cause there was nothing he didn’t compare God to. Pretty-face smiled at moments till her make-up cracked and frowned at moments till I was sure I could see a new wrinkle forming. Looking back now, I don’t know what all that meant, maybe her agreements and disagreements. 

The last man before me was the popular Mr. Lovely-Bubbly-Happiness, which we always thought for a long time was actually his wife’s name. He didn’t let the teacher finish the question. ‘Love Love Love’ was all he kept shouting till he ran out of the room. This was how I knew he had lost it: When he reached the front door near the see through window, he shrieked and did an uncommon Zumba move. The teacher muttered a prayer I didn’t hear. Lovette Pretty-Face exclaimed a high pitched ‘God have mercy’ and Longhorn mumbled something about the end being near.

God is. . .

When we take heart cups and try to fill it with the ocean God before us, walking away boldly that it is all there is to this ocean, aren’t we missing something? No wonder His call to us is to live near, diving through the ocean.

God is. . .

How far have we gone with this great evil, taking a part of God and calling it God? We can’t afford to live on a character of God. God is love but he is also a judge. Just like God became a baby but he is also divine. God has daily mercies but a day is coming he’s wrath will be unleashed on all disobedience and evil. It takes patience and balance friend and a heart that has been circumcised by only him to perceive him rightly.

God is. . .

This is the test. This is the test to know if you holding up a cup to the world as God or you are pointing them to the vast somewhat mysterious ocean. Does the God you bow to baffle your mind. When last did you it occur to you ‘I thought I understood you’. Can you wrap you mind around the God you claim or is He wrapping his loving arms around you?

God is. . .

I am not saying God is totally mysterious. God has made himself known in Jesus, he has come near and he is close and he longs that we know him. But a knowledge of God should never be mistaken for knowing God. 

God is. . .

No debate: the God we know is the God that would be seen through us. Show me who you are and I will tell you your god. Who we are and are becoming is really important. Who we are is at our core, our values and the things we cherish. I think what a lot of people forget when they choose idols is that what we worship doesn’t only give us pleasure, what we worship also forms us.

God is. . .

My goal in writing this is to call us to wonder, to call us to the step by step faith which is our inheritance as Christians, to call us to the creativity the Holy Spirit longs to display by crafting our individual lives. We are masterpieces not mass products. I think it’s religion that does the later to us. A personal relationship with God is endless, making our hearts in the long run desire eternity with him. 

God is. . .

God was a baby right? And that was the incarnation but if we never step beyond that we would never experience the salvation and life his death and resurrection brings. Same with every one of his character. Blowing one out of proportion is distortion the biblical image of God. We must view like a tapestry for the big picture. Zooming in will make you mistake a white onion for a flower.

God is. . .

God is not a sum total of your experiences be them good or bad. He is more. Daily I open my eyes to a world where I see a lifestyle carved to bring humanity back to God torn apart into multifaceted religion: this is majorly cause people have tried to reduce the wonder of God down to their own one moment out of earth experiences leaving no room for the God of heaven to move again. The absence of love is pride, we must remind ourselves and pride is very evil. The voice of pride is ‘my way or the highway’. Oh! the boxes we have created for God and we wonder daily why red seas don’t part anymore and the blind Bartimaeus in our midst aren’t getting healed. 

Crux.

Putting God in a box is actually putting yourself in a box. God is everywhere, all powerful and cannot be limited. What we limit when we limit God is the potential he’s placed in us. We remain small when we’ve been called to greater things.

Ponder.

What box do you have to step beyond today to come to a greater revelation of him?

Have yourself a merry BIG Christmas.

Celebrate The Wonder :)