The whole reason I want to talk about who God is, is because my fellow teens have a major misconception of who He really is. For some of us, this is elementary information, but for many, the true character and person of God remains hidden behind the many false ideas the world has of Him.
We already talked about His unchanging nature, which gives us the freedom to explore what some would consider to be contradicting traits. So today, I would like to focus some on what God means to us, His involvement in our lives.
I was in a conversation recently with a fellow teen who claimed to be a Christian. He then proceeded to tell me that God was a “guiding spirit”, who “helped us along the path of life.” I was saddened to hear this perception of my God. He is SO much more than simply a spirit who guides us in life!
Let’s revisit the salvation story again for a minute. There we were: dirty, stained sinners. We broke His commands, violated His laws, and His punishment for our trespasses was eternal damnation. Eternal separation from life, joy, happiness – from God. A place of eternal suffering and torture. This is where every single soul deserves to go.
But there He was: our intercessor, our mediator, perfect and holy. He stepped in and did something amazing. Christ took that punishment – everything we deserve – on Himself. He literally took all of my sins away. He didn’t erase some of my sins and leave the rest for me to deal with; He took them all away. They are there no longer. He was willing to pay the sacrifice, to pay the ultimate price of death and hell, for me, even though I have always been so far from deserving. Take a minute to fully comprehend this. So magnificent. So beautiful. So undeserved. And yet it’s the price He was willing to pay, for me.
But here comes the part I’ve been leading up to. Jesus didn’t just die on the cross and take away our sins, and move on. That’s not the end of the beauty here.
You see, God doesn’t just leave us there. He doesn’t simply pay such a major price to wipe away my sin, just to let me go on and abuse my new freedom.
It’s because of His love. His unexplainable love for a wretched sinner was why He was willing to die on a cross. That love is unfailing, and it never dies or just ends. He isn’t done being involved in my life.
But it’s more than just a “guiding spirit” who’s gonna help me out. He wants something much deeper than that. He wants, He longs, to have a relationship with me. He wants me to let Him be a part of my life. He doesn’t just want to let me fight my own battles, to let me fend for myself. My God wants a relationship with me, not to just guide me through life. His love is so vast, so deep, that He doesn’t want the beauty to end with the cross. He wants the beauty of His love to carry over into the story after the cross.
I’m sure everyone’s heard “God is love”, as stated in 1 Jn. 4:16. We don’t grasp the depth of that, though. It’s so incomprehensible, inconceivable – we can’t fathom how great, how deep, how marvelous His love is for us! That in and of itself helps to some extent to show us how He loves us; it’s like a love we’ve never known, far greater than we could imagine. This kind of love wants to draw us closer into a relationship with Him, not fulfill His obligation and carry on. No, He wants you. He loves you. He wants you to love Him.
It’s so important to realize this, because this influences and changes our entire view of Christianity. Once we know who God is, we know better how to please and serve Him. We can better obey His commands, and strive better to live a life according to His purpose. If we take God’s love and true nature out of Christianity, we are left with an unbiblical Christianity.
God is a friend, always there and never to leave. He is the true example of loyalty, to the most extreme. He’s not a fair-weather friend, here today and gone tomorrow. He doesn’t want to take advantage of us. Our God is a friend who is here for us throughout all eternity, comforting and teaching us, desiring to have an intimate relationship with us.
God is true love. Even though we can’t completely fathom how amazing His love is for us, we can see that God truly is love, and truly does love us with a love we’ve never known. He is an unfailing love, an unconditional love, regardless of what we do. He is willing to pay the ultimate price for us, because of His love for us.
God is not an impersonal God. He’s not a spirit who guides us, whose only involvement is a gentle nudge here or there, or simply dying on the cross. He loves us, desires a relationship with us. This is one of the most beautiful parts of who my God is.
We already talked about His unchanging nature, which gives us the freedom to explore what some would consider to be contradicting traits. So today, I would like to focus some on what God means to us, His involvement in our lives.
I was in a conversation recently with a fellow teen who claimed to be a Christian. He then proceeded to tell me that God was a “guiding spirit”, who “helped us along the path of life.” I was saddened to hear this perception of my God. He is SO much more than simply a spirit who guides us in life!
Let’s revisit the salvation story again for a minute. There we were: dirty, stained sinners. We broke His commands, violated His laws, and His punishment for our trespasses was eternal damnation. Eternal separation from life, joy, happiness – from God. A place of eternal suffering and torture. This is where every single soul deserves to go.
But there He was: our intercessor, our mediator, perfect and holy. He stepped in and did something amazing. Christ took that punishment – everything we deserve – on Himself. He literally took all of my sins away. He didn’t erase some of my sins and leave the rest for me to deal with; He took them all away. They are there no longer. He was willing to pay the sacrifice, to pay the ultimate price of death and hell, for me, even though I have always been so far from deserving. Take a minute to fully comprehend this. So magnificent. So beautiful. So undeserved. And yet it’s the price He was willing to pay, for me.
But here comes the part I’ve been leading up to. Jesus didn’t just die on the cross and take away our sins, and move on. That’s not the end of the beauty here.
You see, God doesn’t just leave us there. He doesn’t simply pay such a major price to wipe away my sin, just to let me go on and abuse my new freedom.
It’s because of His love. His unexplainable love for a wretched sinner was why He was willing to die on a cross. That love is unfailing, and it never dies or just ends. He isn’t done being involved in my life.
But it’s more than just a “guiding spirit” who’s gonna help me out. He wants something much deeper than that. He wants, He longs, to have a relationship with me. He wants me to let Him be a part of my life. He doesn’t just want to let me fight my own battles, to let me fend for myself. My God wants a relationship with me, not to just guide me through life. His love is so vast, so deep, that He doesn’t want the beauty to end with the cross. He wants the beauty of His love to carry over into the story after the cross.
I’m sure everyone’s heard “God is love”, as stated in 1 Jn. 4:16. We don’t grasp the depth of that, though. It’s so incomprehensible, inconceivable – we can’t fathom how great, how deep, how marvelous His love is for us! That in and of itself helps to some extent to show us how He loves us; it’s like a love we’ve never known, far greater than we could imagine. This kind of love wants to draw us closer into a relationship with Him, not fulfill His obligation and carry on. No, He wants you. He loves you. He wants you to love Him.
It’s so important to realize this, because this influences and changes our entire view of Christianity. Once we know who God is, we know better how to please and serve Him. We can better obey His commands, and strive better to live a life according to His purpose. If we take God’s love and true nature out of Christianity, we are left with an unbiblical Christianity.
God is a friend, always there and never to leave. He is the true example of loyalty, to the most extreme. He’s not a fair-weather friend, here today and gone tomorrow. He doesn’t want to take advantage of us. Our God is a friend who is here for us throughout all eternity, comforting and teaching us, desiring to have an intimate relationship with us.
God is true love. Even though we can’t completely fathom how amazing His love is for us, we can see that God truly is love, and truly does love us with a love we’ve never known. He is an unfailing love, an unconditional love, regardless of what we do. He is willing to pay the ultimate price for us, because of His love for us.
God is not an impersonal God. He’s not a spirit who guides us, whose only involvement is a gentle nudge here or there, or simply dying on the cross. He loves us, desires a relationship with us. This is one of the most beautiful parts of who my God is.