What Is God Really Like? How Does God Act?

While reading this morning, I was struck by the differences between the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament and the God of today. Yes, I know...God is the same yesterday, today and forever. I know that. I believe that.

Yet even a surface read of the Bible reveals that He doesn’t always look and act the same way. I’m currently reading the Bible in three places. In John I've just read about have just seen Lazarus brought back to life. In Joshua I've just learned about the various parcels of land that were given to the different tribes. In Zephaniah I read a prophetic message of radical destruction delivered to the Baal worshipers in Judah. Those passages provide pretty different images of God. We know that Jesus wasn’t anything like what the Jews of Israel were expecting in a Messiah.

It makes me wonder what misconceptions we have about God because we only see what He’s doing in our generation. Just thinking about this a little makes makes a really strong case for studying Scripture (both Old and New Testaments) — so that we get a more well-rounded understanding of God. It also makes a strong case for checking out what God is doing in other areas of the globe and especially in churches outside our own. I've found that we get so "me" oriented in our own churches that we become blind to what God is doing outside our church.

It's so easy to begin to believe that our church does it best! Every pastor (and probably every committed church member) I've known has been bipolar in their presentation of this message — every pastor specifically conveys both that there are many churches in their area and different churches are the best choices for different people AND that their church is the best. Perhaps that's just a function of needing to believe that what we're doing has value.

But I digress. I hope that everyone is in the church that God wants them to be in. But I also have great hope that everyone recognizes the value of other churches and I even secretly hope that occasionally people take a break from their church to see what God is doing in other churches. Because it helps us to see that God is more than what we see Him as in our own church. He's doing more. He's got more facets to His personality.

Has your image/perspective of God been challenged lately? If so, let me know. If not, take a walk on the wild side and visit a different kind of worship service sometime in the next few weeks. Ask God to reveal how He's working in such a different environment. I bet you'll be glad you did. Let me know!

Comment by dansdesk
I'm going to be posting a past sermon soon called "God in a box." It is very similar to what you are talking about. Good stuff!
Thursday July 19, 2007 - 04:22pm (EDT)

Response by Sandyhov
I'm looking forward to it.
Monday July 23, 2007 - 11:25pm (EDT)