WHAT I LIKE ABOUT GOD

I'm one guilty of being deeply involved in the church setting while being negligent in relating to God.   Loaded with ministry assignments, proof texts, and doctrinal ammunition, I set out to make people into miniature me.  Believe as me.  Talk as me. Prove as me.  Even sound like me.

What a missing of the Jesus target.  How sinful.

I had all of these religious ideas I was trying to keep afloat.  I would even take a stab at beefing up my prayer life.  To take a stab at writing a book or increasing my giving...why not?  But there was a major glitch in every bit of the above.  I wasn't connecting with God.  It felt very much that I was on my own.

Do you have any idea what it's like to begrudge the time spent in prayer while not believing it made any difference anyway?  Yet, churchers watching me expected it...so I prayed.  The same with ministry in general; keep up the appearance.  But I wasn't catching something...something big...so personal puzzlement followed.

My problem was that I didn't know God as Father.  I knew Him as Boss.  I knew Him as Office Manager; but not as Friend.  It might help for me to tell you that for some reason as a new convert I understood by comments made in Bible classes, etc., that God was not on our side.  Now that's absurd, but it seemed that God was more of a Spy with a Fly-swatter than a Father with a Son.

What I like about God is that He out-thinks the sharpest of minds, out-works the hardest of laborers, and out-smarts the wisest of teachers.  Mankind has read about and experienced the brilliance of God and, yet, we have hardly scratched the surface of His talent, skill, and certainly His graceful love.  This doesn't bum me that I'm so far behind.  Rather, it frees me to imagine....Him.

What I really like about God is that He cares more about the rejects than anyone can grasp.  We study the Word.  We read of His sacrificial willingness to be tortured in order to save His creation.  And then guys like me come along implying that we have mastered God's trek.  Just.  Not.  So.  To follow in the steps of Jesus is simply one constant transference; our preferences shifting to His.

What I really, really like about God is that He will not be boxed in by man's understanding.  All through Scripture He broke the rules in order to communicate this very fact; He won't be told by any system order how He will work.  He can part a sea to save His people or close it up moments later to extract His enemies.  God can cause night to restrain for a fighting soldier or bring about food from a boy's meager lunch for an entire crowd of say 4000....or 5000.

What I like about God is that He is God....and I am not.  Therefore, it is my job to let go of my calculating, manipulating, extremely puny ways, and let Him run this show.  We will all be better off, don't you think?