No one like your god – even you

Aloof. Narcissistic. Judgmental. High and mighty. Homophobic. Moralistic. Child Killer. Bigot.

Those aren’t very flattering terms. These are, regrettably, the titles that have been plastered upon your god. You read that right, your god. Not the God of creation, but the god of your creation, formed in the image and likeness of what and who you believe is a holy being.

I know that by reading this you will deny you’re capable of doing such a thing. You’re a bible-believing, tongue-talking, cleansed-by-the-blood Christian. But don’t worry, I too was confronted by this same reality claiming the same heritage as you. But when God levels the claim against you, there is not much you can do to disagree. So what, or better yet, how did this happen? Let me give you an example.

William and his family did not attend church and except for a grandmother, they weren’t even considered familiar with the tenets of any kind of faith. One day at the age of six, while playing with a few friends at a one of their houses, William repeated exclaimed some words that, well let’s just say were more normal for a travel-hardened sailor. Some adult came out and scolded William for his foul language and quickly stated that God would clearly judge him harshly if William kept speaking in that manner. William sheepishly apologized and promised not to speak those words again.

Some time passed and then one day is a scuffle with a young boy over the ownership of a toy, William once again released a barrage of unsavory language at the lad which not only dismayed the victim but suddenly caused William to abruptly stop what he was doing and anxiously look about in fear.

As William recalled this incident many years later, he said that his fear was not that there were any adults around who would have heard him but that God was about to judge him for speaking like he did. He said that after a few moments when nothing happened to him, he went on about playing. William said that over the course of many following incidences where he would speak in a similar manner there was always a moment that he feared God would judge him but nothing ever occurred. Eventually, he overcame the fear because he came to believe that God must have been too busy with something else to take any concern in his use of language.

Today, William, a believer for more than fifteen years is desperately desiring to develop a deeper relationship with God. Regrettably, William feels that God is too far off, or aloof, when he prays to Him. William also harbors in the recesses of his thoughts this fear that God is going to judge him at a moment’s notice whenever he does something William knows isn’t what God expects of him. As he sees other people in his church grow in their relationship and love of God, William finds it difficult to suppress the feelings that God doesn’t care for him. He often finds it difficult to talk to people about the things of God because of these feelings he has and he feels that what he is experiencing may influence others adversely who might not be as interested in God as he is.

This is the plight of William and his god; not the God of his church, but the god created as a child that followed him into the structure called church. Unfortunately, William’s story is being acted out across the entire community of believers. Unless you just landed on this planet from outer space, every one has a perception of whom and what God is like, believers and unbelievers alike. This perception is developed early in our life by the actions of adults we look to for guidance. I say this with all sincerity, even being raised in church does not guarantee a correct perception of God. How can I make such a bold claim? Again, the experience of others.

Stephen, Andrew and Millie all grew up in church from the day they were born. Their parents, Patrick and Sandy grew up in church too as did their parents before them. When Millie, the baby of the family, was diagnosed with MS at age three, the entire family stood on their faith in God that Millie would be healed by the works of Christ. Stephen and Andrew, seven and five at the time pledged their support for their sister and often were seen in the children’s chapel claiming before the other children that Millie would be made whole by Jesus.

The entire family became a resource in their community for how to endure the testing which comes with pursuing healing. The entire family would travel to the healing meetings which came to town, or other cities if they knew that God had told them to go there. Patrick and Sandy immersed themselves in memorizing and confessing healing scriptures. They would often lead the boys in nightly prayers reciting these verses over Millie, building up their faith in the finished works of Christ. Patrick began leading a men’s healing group at church and would often take the boys with him to see the impact of God’s healing power on people as they prayed and watch people “fall out” under the power of the Spirit. Sandy became Millie’s teacher of prayer and spiritual warfare. They often could be heard securing the healing anointing for Patrick’s ministry as he departed the house each week with the boys in tow.

When Millie turned eighteen and the doctor’s diagnosis again reaffirmed the severity of her disfiguration, certain changes became evident in Stephen and Andrew on how they related to God. Simply put, they were exhausted. They had believed for so long that God would heal their sister and now years later with no hint of improvement, they were questioning just what kind of God would make a promise of healing and not follow through on it like he had done to them and their sister. This question and others weren’t something they could bring up with Patrick and Sandy, but were often overheard on more than one occasion being voiced while they were with friends. Questions were also affecting Sandy who was openly challenging sermons she had been listening to and standing behind for years. Patrick was laboring to field sound answers while feeling the weight of the unanswerable gnawing question, “Why…?”

Whether you believe it or not, God is not obligated to perform to your perception of Him. The events we experience daily form the perception of our god working in our life. The one true God already existed before we came around, however our thoughts about him have been warped by the perceptions of those who have gone on before us. Whole denominations claim to know who God is, but their doctrines dismiss how he operates on the earth today simple because they don’t think that is God! So they have a perception created around a desire to see God which can only be seen in their frame of reference. This is happening around the world in every community, creating an angst within the congregations who are yearning for a move of God. Their god doesn’t move!

How many times have you claimed, “I know what my God can do!” only to carry the burden of all the things your god has never done or seems at least to be taking his own sweet time in getting around to? Some of you are probably shocked that I would even consider saying such a thing. Well don’t get your panties all tied up in a knot, I can assure you that God is mature enough to handle all our childish outbursts, mine and yours included. Our own god, meanwhile, I’m not so sure he is able to. I say this because we are quick to defend our god when someone brings a charge against him. Like we’re going to defend him, right! If our god is the true God, don’t you think that the whole host of heaven is pretty peeved about us doing their job of defending the King of creation? There is a screw that needs tightened in that kind of thinking to make it run right and true.

Let me be blunt with you. The god of our creation has never done anything for us despite what we’ve let other believe. Our god is a judgmental and temperamental cuss who would sooner wish we would stop bothering him than consider our good works, offerings of thanksgiving and sacrifices of praise. Yes, our god is tired of being Santa Claus, the tooth faerie, and the Easter Bunny for adults and kid alike. Yes, our god does think that people are inept at maintaining relationships, even with the same sex, and that is why he doesn’t stop us from doing stupid things on Friday night that we’ll regret on Saturday morning.

It is true that he doesn’t hold you to any promises that you throw at his great white porcelain throne of late night judgment which is pretty sweet. But that is not going to help you when you need cash to get your sorry lower half out of jail after everyone you know has changed their phone number. Our god does care for the little people, little green people on little green slips of paper. We know it but we don’t confess it because of that filthy lucre thing which no holy god in his right mind would ever be around. We know full well that prosperity in our god has nothing to do with riches, but only sorrows. That is why we shudder when someone says, “The Lord bless you,” cause he ain’t done it yet but he sure keeps adding to our sorrows. And don’t even get me started on divine health under our god…insurance says it all.

I trust that maybe you’ve encountered a glimpse at your god who has been hiding in the recesses behind a veil of self-proclaimed holiness. Sure I’ve made some exaggerations in a couple of areas for literary purposes but overall the point is hopefully understood. In reality most of the perceptions we’ve created about our god are subtle, barely noticeable. These are the worst kind simply because they place us in this never-ending cycle of performance-oriented behaviors to gain acceptance.

Paul claims that we need to experience a renewing of the mind. Most preachers exhort people about this when they are trying to get you to believe something new about God. Look, there is nothing new about God. He is the same yesterday, today and forevermore. Or maybe they claim it’s because God is doing a new thing. Well, God did a new thing two thousand years ago and then he claimed it was finished and sat down. So what exactly does Paul want us to renew our mind about? How about the truth that our god sucks in running our life and the lives of those around us? How about the truth that He is the only one who can do what we’re believing to be done, and that He’ll do it when He is the only one who will receive all the praise for it? How about the truth that honestly, it’s not dependent upon our faith, no matter what the size it is, but it really is about His faith and his alone?

Maybe, just this once, we need to renew our mind to the truth that we have created a god in our image and likeness and God, our Father, is not impressed how we have been worshiping it rather than him. It’s time to find out who the real god is and why his grace is so vital to our daily life.