God will not be carved out into an image of who we think he is, it just doesn’t work that way. We don’t get to pick and choose the characteristics of God. Sure, it would be nice to hold onto some characteristics and discard others, but that just isn’t scriptural.
We find it so easy to embrace His love, mercy, compassion, grace and forgiveness but we struggle, and even don’t want to consider much of the rest of his almighty character. God is a God of justice, in fact, His name is justice. God is also a God who will bring forth well-deserved wrath; this is scriptural, and these are part of His never changing, everlasting, almighty character.
The problem for many people is they want to believe what they want to believe about God and his character. They run with their idea of who God is, and what he is like. The reality of God has nothing to do with what you think or believe. The Bible speaks loudly of who God is, what he is about, and how he has called us to live, and in order to experience the fullness of God, you have to embrace ALL of who the scriptures say he is.
You can’t take apart the scripture to fit your own life’s narrative. You can’t take apart scripture to align with the culture, political or social movement. You can’t take apart scripture to fit and justify how you want to live or behave it just doesn’t work that way. When you put God into your own context of what you want Him to be and how you believe he would respond, and whether he approves or disapproves, without aligning it with scripture, well, then you’ve created an idol, and we all know what the Bible says about idols.
There are many churches out there who are “seeker friendly or live your best life” style of church. They cater to the cultural and sway to the latest social movement. Yep, they make you feel good with their motivational and encouraging messages and you may leave feeling validated and justified, but a watered down message that makes you feel good, isn’t going to get you to heaven. Seek truth!
Repentance, commitment, surrender are words not often heard these days, and not easily embraced. God can’t work with unrepentant and hard hearts; Romans 1 tells us of that truth. God wants us to get it right instead of almost right. God wants desperately to get through the thick wall of pride that makes it impossible for many to recognize and hear truth. God is persistent, God, that is true, but the window of opportunity is closing.
The God of the Bible is the only God there is and the only way to get to him is through the blood of Jesus Christ. It is about surrendering your life, all of your life, what you think, feel, and believe to be right. Completely letting it all go and making Jesus Christ Lord over everything, embracing and following what the scriptures say.