1. God as a Divine Rescuer
I just love going to the local swimming pool, but I get so frustrated that all the fun things are illegal
(running on the edge, splashing others, pushing people in, kissing, bottles, etc). I’m sure that someone or a
committee sat down and decided to outlaw all the best things! Then there is the life guard who is there to
blow the whistle at you the minute you overstep the mark. Most people totally ignore the life guard until
either the whistle is blown or until they are drowning! Then they seem to take a lot of interest in him. A lot of people treat God like that - they ignore him most of the time but when difficulties come along -
problems at home, difficult exams, being in danger - they quickly rattle off a prayer. There is nothing
wrong with that, but the problem is that as soon as they’re out of the difficulty they forget about God
again. But God is more than a divine rescuer.
2. God as a Moral Policeman
Imagine that your day at the swimming pool is over and you’re on the way home. You do something that
you know you shouldn’t - perhaps you kick a dog, steal some sweets or pay only half fare on the bus ride.
Just as you are leaving the scene of the crime you see a policeman coming towards you. What do you
think? ‘Oh good, someone to own up to!’ Of course you don’t! You think, ‘just keep walking, act
naturally and he’ll never suspect me.’ I’ve met many people who think of God only in terms of what they have done wrong.
They believe that wrong. But that is a very one sided view of God.
3. God as Santa Claus
As a child I used to love it when Gran came to visit. In fact I hated going to visit her because it was so
boring. I used to sit and watch the cuckoo clock, wishing the time away. But what I loved was the sweets
that she always used to bring or hand out. The only reason I used to long for her visit was to get the
sweets. But then a tragedy struck our home - my teeth started to go rotten and the dentist bills were
starting to mount up. Gran stopped bringing sweets and I began to resent Gran’s meanness. Many people see God like I used to view Gran. His only job is to bring into their lives good things
(happiness, security, money, jobs, etc) and when these things don’t appear they get mad with God and
boycott him. But there are things that we often want which will not be good for us, so God does not give
them - you see God is a lot more than a Santa Claus!
4. God as an Old Man in the Sky
A lot of people think of God as an old man up in the sky. He’s up there... somewhere! But he is not very
much in touch with what’s going on down here and he’s certainly got no interest in the lives of ordinary
teenagers in 1991! All the evidence seems to suggest that he’s a has-been; the buildings he lives in are old
and falling down; the people who worship him all seem to be over sixty and the language that he
understands is full of ‘thees’, ‘thous’ and ‘thines’ (even my computer doesn’t understand these words!).
Well, God has been around for a very long time, but he’s much more than an old man in the sky - some
sort of Cosmic Grandfather!
So, what is God like? Well Jesus gave us a clue when he taught his friends how to pray to God. He said that when we talk to him we should not call him ‘Life Guard’, ‘Santa’ or ‘Grandfather’ but ‘our Father’. That is what God wants to be to you - a good father: a father who knows all about you, cares deeply about every aspect of your life and wants the best for you.
When we speak of God as Father, we must be careful of taking our earthly experiences of a father and projecting them on to Him. When cannot project our creaturely limitations onto the God who made us as though we had made Him. One of the church fathers, Athanasius, wrote: “God does not make man his pattern, but rather, since God alone is properly and truly Father, we men are called fathers of our children, for of Him every fatherhood in heaven and earth is names.” The Bible reveals to us what God as Father is like:
If you do not know God as your father, maybe it is because you are not a part of his family - We become a part of God’s family by adoption. We were born as orphans but Jesus died for us so that we could be adopted into the family of God - He forgives our sin and this opens the way for the legal agreement between us and the father to be drawn up. Romans 8:15,16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”
If you have not yet been adopted into God’s family, and you will know if you have, you need to speak to
someone who can help you get to know God as Father.
Written by Mark Tittley: Email
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