Why bother?
Why should I get to know God?
What difference does it make what I think about God? What does that have to do with me?
Because what I think about God ultimately determines what I think about myself...And what I think about myself determines how I respond to God...And that determines everything.
What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like.
~ A. W. Tozer
KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY
KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY
How can I feel joy and love and passion for a God that I think is cruel and unfair and mean? Why would I trust in a God that I don’t know to be reliable and unchangable? How can I fully love my neighbors if I’ve yet to understand God as love incarnate?
I don’t want to waste my time worshiping a pseudo-image of God that can’t love me back when I can be loving the real thing instead.
A Case of Mistaken Identity
At Books-a-Million I saw my husband in the back of the store scanning the magazines. I snuck up behind him, threw my arms around his waist, and whispered in his ear, “Hey, Baby.”
But a split second later, out of the corner of my eye, I saw my REAL husband a few yards to my left, watching me with a smirk.
I had snagged the wrong man.
I quickly turned loose and stuttered out a humble apology as the startled gentleman turned around to see who had accosted him. He was gracious and replied that this had never happened to him before. We all laughed, and my husband and I very hastily left the store. (I haven’t returned.)
But even though at first glance I thought that was my husband, I was wrong. If I had looked closer before I pounced, I would have seen that it was not him.
Everything that I was projecting onto this man was wrong. Would this stranger make me jello when I’m sick? Would he rub my feet just because I had a bad day? Would he eat at Red Lobster instead of Dreamland just because I liked Red Lobster better? No. He didn’t care anything about me. He didn’t know me.
The real God knows me. He cares; he loves. There’s nothing he won’t do for me. So he is the one I want to know. More and more.
Why Michelangelo Didn’t Want to Paint
Studying the attributes of God can be the most faith-enhancing learning we undertake. We all want a stronger faith; we know we have sinful
weaknesses that need overhauling; we want to be better spouses, parents, friends.But the only way to be truly repaired is to contact our Manufacturer. As we seek to know him better, he changes who we are in the process.
Michelangelo’s mural “The Creation of Adam”, painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, is one of the most widely recognized portraits of God. Yet he almost didn’t do it. Why not? And are those the same reasons we don’t seek God more? Read more about it...
2 comments:
Wow Lisa -- you're wearing me out with these last couple of posts and all the questions. ;-) And I'd love to respond, but I don't have time!
But I couldn't resist writing and at least say I loved the story about you grabbing the wrong man... too funny. But it does make for a good illustration...
My b-i-l and niece made me an illustrated book for Christmas entitled "Finding Your Husband for Dummies", complete with photos they took of the backs of random men at Wal-Mart. The pictures progress in likenesses of Jeff until finally the last photo is of Jeff--they took it secretly at Thanksgiving. It's quite amusing.
In other words, they're never going to let me live this one down. :-)
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