Everyone has their own view of God. Some scoff at the idea of God and turn their noses to anyone who dares suggest there is a God. Others are like the men of Athens in the first century AD who believed in "god(s)" but didn't know about the one true God...at least not until the Apostle Paul told them (Acts 17). There are others, like myself, who claim belief in the God of the Bible. Yet, we live our comfortable lives from beginning to end, in our comfortable houses, going to a comfortable church in a comfortable car without ever stopping to think seriously about this God we claim belief in. We busy ourselves with the things of this world and turn a blind eye to the majesty and splendor of God. In our own ignorance we fail to know the true God and instead become idolaters, having made a "god" in our own image. That's my tendency and it's yours. It's the daily struggle we face as sinful people living in a fallen world.
Thankfully, God knows our natural bent, so He warned us through the prophet Jeremiah and said, "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord." (Jeremiah 9:23-24) May we heed God's call and strive to understand and KNOW Him better...because our eternity hinges on it...
John 17:3 says "And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."
Whether or not you know the only true God and His Son, Jesus, determines whether or not you have eternal life. That means, the most important though you will ever think is what you think when you think about God. In fact, all the problems we face living on this little ball of dirt floating in the universe and the solutions to those problems are theological (relating to the study of God).
In the early days of the Christian church various groups began to develop creedal statements and catechisms. These short statements were often committed to memory because they clearly and succinctly describe what we believe to be true based on the teaching of the Bible. One of the more well-known catechisms, the Westminster Shorter Catechism, asks and answers this question: "What is God?" The answer: "God is Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth." That's a great starting point for knowing God better but the people who can recite it from memory today are few and far between.
One of the blessings of living in the age in which we live is that we have almost an endless number of resources at our fingertips. One of the curses of living in the age in which we live is that we have almost an endless number of resources at our fingertips. I say that because people rarely stop to internalize or remember some of these vital truths. YET, we must!
I encourage you to check out our current sermon series at Geist Community Church called Introducing the King. May we "press on to know the Lord." (Hosea 6:3)
