Bullets for the Battle

How Adequate is Your God?

It would be amusing if it were not so pathetic – the ideas that people get about God.

• Some view God as a celestial Batman eager to swoop down from heaven and clobber “bad guys.”
• Others view Him as a stuffy “Judge of the Universe” waiting to sternly evaluate all who stand before Him. He sits with arms folded, daring anyone to ask Him for anything.
• Still others identify God with religion. As religion is usually a “last resort” enterprise, God is viewed as running an “atmospheric flop house” for the dropouts of life.
• Another view is the Puritan, holier-than-thou, naughty no-no God. He’s having a dull time in heaven, and it “bugs” Him when folks have fun (sin) on earth!
• One must include the “Know it all” view. I know what’s best, and I’ll do it my way, regardless!
• Another false view of God sees Him as the proprietor of hell. He’s invested a lot of money in this piece of real estate and will be terribly disappointed if a lot of folks don’t end up going there!
• A final view, although there are many others, is the frantic view. God is nervously pacing the floors of heaven, wringing His hands in despair over the world condition. This is seeing God as a victim of situations too big to handle.

Like it or not, all of us will act out our view of God, or perfection, or greatness, or our ideal. First, we play God by assuming we can live independently of others … and even of God Himself. Second, we play God in the causal way we judge, berate, condemn and reject our fellow man. Although we deny it verbally, we act toward others as though we possess more perfect knowledge about their situations. Thirdly, we play God when we put ourselves at the center of our universe. We view ourselves as the whole and not simply a part of reality. Lastly, and most serious, we play God when we exalt ourselves in ignoring and/or rejecting the truth and authority of the true God.

Where does one get clued in on what God is really like? How does man find his place in this vast scheme of things and “plug in”? The answer for the Christ Believer is in Jesus, the only perfect Man who ever lived. His life defies imitation. It can be explained only in terms of a Lord from heaven! He blows men’s ideas of God to pieces! He is not vengeful, stuffy, dull, uncompassionate or worried. The God Jesus revealed is forgiving, free, exciting, loving and has everything under control. People experience hell in their lives because they are attempting to follow the god of their own making who is false and inadequate. Man’s insane experiment to try and be man without the God who created him is as foolish as trying to live a day without breathing.

Man’s pride continually projects him into the role of God – a part he can never play. He doesn’t possess the power or the script. Only God can be God. Come, let us be man … but God’s kind of man. This is the only realistic, healthy and positve choice open to all of us!

²⁶ You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, ²⁷ for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:26-28