How Great is Your God?

How great is your God? In A.W. Tozer’s classic work, The Knowledge of the Holy, he makes a classic statement that “What comes to mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

He goes on to say “no people has risen above its religion” and “no religion has even been greater than its idea of God.” The BIG question for you and I is what comes to mind when we think about God? Just how close does our idea of God correspond to what scripture reveals as the true God? Our ideas can easily be buried beneath layers of our own lethargy or ignorance as well as religious notions and creeds which we have adopted from trusted individuals and/or religious systems which trained and indoctrinated us.

Is it that important to have a “right” belief in or understanding of God? I would say yes. Definitely!  Wrong or inaccurate belief “constructs” about God lead to the creation of a false God, even idolatry. I know we recoil at that thought, defending ourselves in that we aren’t molding a golden calf or kneeling at some strange altar, but the real essence of idolatry is entertaining thoughts about God that are unworthy of or unfitting for Him. We cannot make God what we want Him or need Him to be for us. In doing so, we craft a “god.” Wrong ideas about God are the source materials from which idolatry can flow. Cults and false religions find their source here.

Have you imagined things about God and acted as if they were true? We have a responsibility to ourselves and especially to those we profess God to, to represent God for who He truly is. As ambassadors trusted with God’s message (2 Cor. 5:20) we are under obligation not to present some diminished deity but instead the Creator, Sustainer and Reconciler of all things (Col.1); the God of mercy, grace and truth (Jn 1:14, Eph 2); the God of love and coming judgment (Acts 17:31); the God who has re-set the course of your life (your testimony). We must digest scripture to properly appraise God. We must seek intimacy with Him to understand His ways. Take some time to work through this. What comes to your mind when you think about God? How close are your thoughts to the true God? How are  you certain? Think About It.