My Thoughts on God

In the last post, I shared an assignment for my Spiritual Life class to describe who God is and what He is like. Here is my response:

I reflect on God and His attributes with great inadequacy, fearing that my thoughts will reflect more on my sinfulness and finiteness than on a God who is holy, perfect, loving, and good. God is first powerful creator. With the flick of his wrist He dispatched millions of stars throughout the universe. His hands shaped the mountains and carved the depths of the sea. Yet this same God lovingly sent His son to this earth and allowed His hands to be nailed to a cross. The hill he rounded out at Calvary became the hill up which His son would painfully climb and give his life. This sacrifice reveals the truth of I John 4:8 that “God is love.” As part of God’s love, he invited me into His family, became My Father, and asked me to become His son. He knows the number of hairs on my head and the depths of darkness in my soul, but His love remains. This love has changed my life and for that I am very grateful.

God’s love requires Him to be intimately involved in the lives of those He has created. Since Genesis, He has sought our company and companionship. Though He fully knows our evil deeds and heart, His desire is to be our Friend. God invites us to spend time with Him, rely on Him, and ask Him for guidance, help, and provision on our earthly journey. In His will, He responds to our needs and proves His intimate involvement in our lives. When I look back on my life, I see God’s gracious gentle hand drawing me closer to Him.

God’s love and involvement must not cause us to overlook His perfection and holiness. God is perfect – He lacks nothing. He is complete in Himself. However, this perfection is balanced by holiness. God is so pure and good that He must be set apart from those who commit sins. His inherent goodness provides the only baseline for righteousness, for God can commit only righteous, just acts. This attribute causes me the most fear and misunderstanding in my journey with God. I am unable to understand God’s balance between love and holiness. When I miss God’s perfect mark, I fear His punishment and the withdrawal of His presence. Most days, something deep within me whispers that God is punishing me for the sins I commit. I wonder why God does not respond to my faith, faulty though it can be, as quickly as I would like. At other times, however, God’s love so consumes me that I feel like a child in his father’s arms.