“You Thought I Was Like You”

How do you view God? Do you regard Him as the Creator of Heaven and Earth (Gen. 1:1)? Do you picture Him as the “Heavenly Grandfather,” who simply smiles and shakes His head at sinful man, as a grandparent might when his or her grandchild does something wrong? Do you think of God as someone with whom you might drink a beer with, as a country song suggests? (Society’s moral downward spiral continues…)

I believe that God may be tired of our profane perceptions of Him, just as He was with Israel in the Old Testament. For example, Psalm 50:21 says, “These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.” In other words, God is saying, “You thought I was just like you; I will reprove you and set things in order before your eyes.”

 
In Acts 17:23, Paul preached the “unknown God” to the men there, and I daresay that God may be as unknown in our culture today as He was to these people 2000 years ago – even among professed Christians! The way some TV preachers speak to God and about God today is embarrassing and humiliating not only to God, but also to many of us. We must remember that God is not a man, and whatever He is, He is that to perfection. When we say God is all-knowing, we mean He has an absolute knowledge of everything. He doesn’t know more or less now than he once did, nor is He more or less loving than he once was. I pray that we never forget about God’s goodness or His severity (Rom. 11:22).

Man needs to have a proper, balanced view of the God of Heaven, for Paul writes in Romans 14:11-12, “… we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.”

Do you view God as the Heavenly Father to whom you will someday give account for the deeds of your life? Are you ready to do that? If not, make whatever changes you need to

make, and do so today. “For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appeareth for a little while, then vanisheth away” (James 4:14).