Do We Really “Know” God – or do we have a “concept of God”?
March 21st 2011 16:57
Religion provides us with many different concepts of God. Many concepts are based upon a “rules and regulations” view of God in which He is just waiting for us to break a rule. Once that rule(s) is broken, God’s vented up wrath is waiting to be released. Others who have a "self-righteous" view, may have the concept of a “hyper-critical God” whose standards of love and acceptance are so high, we will never be able to reach them.
Such concepts are based upon religious views which has been devised about God and not upon a true knowledge of Him. True knowledge comes through the Word of God which reveals that God is love. 1 John 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
In I Corinthians 13, we find a list of the characteristics of love. It stands to reason that if God is love, all of the characteristics of love apply to Him. For example, love is patient and God is love, therefore God is patient. Or love does not seek its own; therefore God does not seek His own. As a matter of fact, God came to the earth in order to give through the sacrifice of His own son. Because of love, there is nothing God would ever say or do with the intent of embarrassing or humiliating us.
Is God capable of expressing wrath? Yes, but not in the sense of taking pleasure in it or venting Himself in a raging manifestation of temper. His wrath is always tempered on the basis of the fact He is just. In other words, His expression of wrath is always is equal to the offense. With that said, God is not irritable or touchy about things as many of us are. Nor does He keep a personal record of the petty offenses we commit like some kind of scorecard for all the times we have ticked Him off so that He can throw a 20 yard penalty on us.
In His love, God is not against us – He is for us. He does not desire for us to fail, instead He has given us everything needed to succeed. If we do not use what He has given to us and we fail; it is not a reflection of His character, but of our own.
Such concepts are based upon religious views which has been devised about God and not upon a true knowledge of Him. True knowledge comes through the Word of God which reveals that God is love. 1 John 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
In I Corinthians 13, we find a list of the characteristics of love. It stands to reason that if God is love, all of the characteristics of love apply to Him. For example, love is patient and God is love, therefore God is patient. Or love does not seek its own; therefore God does not seek His own. As a matter of fact, God came to the earth in order to give through the sacrifice of His own son. Because of love, there is nothing God would ever say or do with the intent of embarrassing or humiliating us.
Is God capable of expressing wrath? Yes, but not in the sense of taking pleasure in it or venting Himself in a raging manifestation of temper. His wrath is always tempered on the basis of the fact He is just. In other words, His expression of wrath is always is equal to the offense. With that said, God is not irritable or touchy about things as many of us are. Nor does He keep a personal record of the petty offenses we commit like some kind of scorecard for all the times we have ticked Him off so that He can throw a 20 yard penalty on us.
In His love, God is not against us – He is for us. He does not desire for us to fail, instead He has given us everything needed to succeed. If we do not use what He has given to us and we fail; it is not a reflection of His character, but of our own.
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