My young adult son came to me and asked if he could open the five pound bag of sugar in his hands. He was fully capable of opening the bag without covering the kitchen floor with crystalline particles, and I followed my "Sure!" with a suggestion that he could dump the whole bag in the sugar canister while he was at it. He looked at me with a very quizzical look, and queried if indeed the canister was big enough to hold five pounds of sugar. When I asked if the canister was totally empty, and received a positive response, I followed with another "Sure!" He still did not have anything like the look of confidence that I expected, so I did the motherly thing and decided I needed to make a visit to the kitchen while I announced in a teasing voice, "It’s okay. You’re just dimensionally challenged." Imagine my surprise when I saw the "canister" on the counter. It was no "canister" at all, but the small sugar bowl in the creamer and sugar set that was always left on the Lazy Susan for quick access. Understanding and accurate terminology go a long way in knowing what to do with what is in our hands.

As believers, we hold God, not in our hands, but in our hearts, and the principle is still true. Understanding and accurate terminology go a long way in knowing what to do with the God who is in our hearts. I am not talking about becoming students of theology as much as I am about simply understanding God in the ways in which we relate to Him. And, I don’t pretend to know all that there is to know about this One who is so far beyond the fullness of my understanding. The most fundamental relationship with God is His relationship to us as Savior. Wrongly understanding that, we can continue to exert human effort to reach a sense of certainty about our future destiny or we can hold onto a guilt that continues to condemn us. We could go in the opposite direction and flippantly practice sin believing that God’s grace will cover those wrong behaviors or attitudes that we willingly, knowingly, and habitually indulge in. Even in our understanding of God as our Father, we can bring into that relationship the negative impressions of fatherhood that arise from our earthly fathers, and fear His wrath, His abandonment, or His neglect. Paralleling those concepts of God are those that were birthed in earlier religious experiences that distorted His holiness or His love, rather than giving to us the balance of both essentials of His nature.

 

An area in which Christians often make assumptions about God is in His role as Provider, Healer, or even Sanctifier. Personal responsibility can be abandoned, and conscientious, discerning choice deemed unnecessary. "Faith" becomes an avenue for demanding from God or presenting Him with our "wish list." We attempt to manipulate a sovereign God with eternal purposes, and we judge other believers for their lack of faith when their lives lack the affluence of material possessions or good health we think should be there. We can detail spiritual growth in such a way that is pre-formulated, not by God, but by man.

 

I realize I have not given you a full picture of an accurate understanding of God to replace the misunderstandings you may have, but I would challenge you to set aside those misunderstandings and ask God to replace them with His truth – truth that will allow you to not only understand, but also to live out the vitality, depth, and passion of your Christian faith.