- Religion, salvation and even Jesus have been personalized by many.
- Jesus’ parables have become stories.
- The witness of the Apostles has been traded for personal testimonies that all too often draw attention away from God and His word to human experiences.
- God’s will has been personalized to the point of turning our attention from the “kingdom of God and His righteousness” to my personal bucket list for God. In other words, people decide what they want to do for God instead of offering themselves, “What does God want of me.”
What kind of God do you want?
- Do you want a God who will give you warm snuggles at night?
- How about a God who loves story?
- How about a God who loves everyone and accepts everyone...just as I am?
- Would you like a God who promises health, and wealth and power?
- How about a genie-in-a-bottle God?
- Would you like a God who puts up with all kinds of sin, except for the really bad sins?
- How about a God who has changed His mind on His own standard of morality, saying, “That was once sinful, but no longer”?
“Living Under Water” is a book about Christian baptism. The author reported that as a part of his year-long study on the doctrine of baptism, he had baptized folks from infants to elderly; by sprinkling, pouring and immersion; in baptisteries, natural bodies of water, and a farm watering trough; as a part of formal ceremonies and informal occasions; in public and in private; and for whatever reason the one being baptized wanted to be baptized: confirmation, membership, salvation, declaration of dedication, etc. For the author, Christian baptism had become all things to all people.
Translation: Baptism lacked meaning.
The Bible tells about the Creator who is the God who declared, “I Am Who I Am,” a God who is changeless and timeless, the same yesterday, today and forever.
The God of the Bible is not like our high school yearbook buddy who wrote, “Stay the way you are.” He says, “Come as you are, but I will transform you into something better.” Indeed, God has reached down into the pit of mankind, but not to become like us and fit our definition of the kind of god we want. He came and lived among us in order to pull us up out of our pit of sin and death so that we could enjoy life!
Each person must decide whether he wants the God of the Bible or a god of his own design. If you wish to know your Creator, and not a god made in the mind of man, then you must open your mind and heart to God’s revelation of Himself, the Bible.
Translation: Baptism lacked meaning.
The Bible tells about the Creator who is the God who declared, “I Am Who I Am,” a God who is changeless and timeless, the same yesterday, today and forever.
The God of the Bible is not like our high school yearbook buddy who wrote, “Stay the way you are.” He says, “Come as you are, but I will transform you into something better.” Indeed, God has reached down into the pit of mankind, but not to become like us and fit our definition of the kind of god we want. He came and lived among us in order to pull us up out of our pit of sin and death so that we could enjoy life!
Each person must decide whether he wants the God of the Bible or a god of his own design. If you wish to know your Creator, and not a god made in the mind of man, then you must open your mind and heart to God’s revelation of Himself, the Bible.
For behold, He who forms mountains and creates the wind and declares to man what are his thoughts, He who makes dawn into darkness and treads on the high places of the earth, The Lord God of hosts is His name.—Amos 4:13
The God of the Bible has revealed Himself. He is not a meaningless all things to all people kind of god.
What is your God/god like?
Does your god bow to you?
Or, do you bow before the changeless Creator of mankind, the great I AM?!
Mark Stinnett
September 3, 2023
Well Said!
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