Who we imagine God to be can be very powerful.
Though powerful, our imaginations are often not accurate. Imagining God will always lead us to an imaginary God.
The God of Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, Peter, and Paul did not base their life on images of God. They experienced God – real life, real places, real time. Revelation.
I am noticing that there are two very popular images of God – in and outside the church. The first is what I call “the Parking Space God”. The second, “the Distant God”. Both of these gods seem to be much more imaginary than the God of scripture.
1. The Parking Space God. Have you ever been late, or stressed, and been in need of a parking space? And have you ever prayed to God for Him to provide for you a parking space? I confess that I have. It is a bit embarrassing.
I believe that God is intimately involved in the details of our lives. However, the parking space god reduces God to be used for my needs and wants. This popular image of god does not challenge me to reorient my entire life around the kingdom of God. Rather, it prays that God would reorient Himself around my lifestyle – needs, wants, prayers, desires, values.
The “parking space God” gets God’s “nearness” correct. But it misunderstands God’s holiness, God’s Kingdom, God’s Lordship, God’s agenda. We might know when we are worshiping this false god when we pray for parking spaces, instead of God’s Kingdom coming to earth. We might know when we are worshiping this false god when we ask God to submit himself to our wants, instead of submitting our lives to what God wants for his world.
2. The Distant God. Could you sum up the Christian life as giving your life to Christ and now trying to live a moral life? For seasons of my life, I have. But this is often a symptom of worshiping “the Distant God”.
I believe that God is huge, awesome, holy, and “other”. I believe that he reigns from the throne of heaven and holds the universe in his hands. However, this image reduces god to an idea – the idea that a god exists somewhere and that we can read about Him in the Bible. But this popular image of God is not the God of the Christian faith – Immanuel, God with us.
This distant god gets God’s “bigness” correct. But it misunderstands his nearness, his revelation, his incarnation, his sending of the Holy Spirit, his intimate love. People who worship the distant god live as spiritual orphans – thinking God that exists, but is absent. But Jesus promised not to leave us orphans, but send us the Holy Spirit that will be with us.
Frankly, God desires intimacy with us.
Intimacy with God is a good thing.
Are you worshiping an imaginary god? Or our your learning to grow in intimacy with the Lord of Heaven and Earth?
