Ever wondered what the main beliefs of Christianity were? Ever wondered if you had it right? We begin a series on the basics of Christianity with a Trilogy on the Godhead. This is part 1.
If our thinking about God isn’t correct
Then every other doctrine (set of beliefs) we learn and apply our minds to will also be wrong!
This is the most important doctrine, yet people seem to think they’re free to make up their minds as to what God is like.
Some people who call themselves Christians say, ‘My god would never send anyone to hell.’ (Notice I used the lower case ‘g’ there.)
Saying something like that ignores all the the Bible has to say on the subject. This could be the greatest sin a person can commit – reducing God to who they think he should be, rather than accepting who God himself says he is!
One of the things that caused God so much pain in the Old Testament was idolatry. This was to ignore who God truly was and worship gods the people preferred him to be.
They made gods with their own hands, gods who’s power and character they made up to suit themselves (Jeremiah 10:3-5).
People do this today, when they ignore the truth of God, revealed in the Bible, in favour for who they think he should be!
What is God like?
The simple answer: He’s unlike anything we’ve ever known or experienced!
Check out what God says of himself in Isaiah – ‘To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?’ (Isaiah 46:5)
The Psalmist does the same thing – ‘For who in all of heaven can compare with the Lord? What mightiest angel is anything like the Lord?’ (Psalm 89:6)
If this is true, how can we know anything about God? Well the good news is this, God wants to be known! In fact, he wrote a entire book about himself – the Bible is God revealing who he is to the world!
1. God is Holy
The most common way the Bible describes God is that he’s ‘holy’. (Psalm 99:9; Revelation15:4)
This basically means that he is completely different from us. How? Well, he is free from all sin and evil, and he is absolutely perfect!
This holiness then impacts on all his other traits – God’s love is holy love, his justice is holy justice, his goodness is holy goodness. God can do nothing that isn’t holy!
2. God is Sovereign
This word refers to God’s complete control and authority over his creation (1 Chronicles 29:11-12). He has absolute power.
God is no fairy tale king who is helpless. He is omnipotent (all powerful), omniscient (all knowing), omnipresent (is in all places).
He can do what he likes, when he likes, how he likes, with whom he likes (Job 23:13). This is our God!
3. The God of Providence
This means that God is always at work in the lives of his people so nothing happens to us by chance or luck.
Sometimes it’s hard for us to see, but Paul says that God ‘…makes everything work out according to his plan.’ (Ephesians 1:11)
It was his belief in this truth that enabled Paul to survive some of his hardest times!
4. God is Good
The Bible tells us that God is good – he’s tender hearted, generous and full of sympathy (Psalm 145:9, 15-16).
But God’s goodness is not softness. He will not be taken advantage of by anyone.
For us, this means that we can rely on him, trust in him and know that, whatever we face, God will be good.
5. God is Love
If God were not love there would be no hope for any of us. This isn’t a sappy, sentimental kind of love. But one that acts:
It’s undeserved (Romans 5:6-8)
It wan’t looked for (1 John 4:10)
It’s unimaginable (1 John 3:1)
And all of this is just scratching the surface of who God is. The Bible reveals more and more about who he is if only we’d take the time to learn!
Having a correct view of who God is will change everything we think we know and how we see the world, and every other thing we learn will be shaped by what we know of God.
The Bible changes people because within the pages they meet God and nothing comes in contact with Him and isn’t changed somehow.
