by Jacob Ninan
God is the most important Person in the world we need to know, and He is also the loveliest Person we can ever know! He is our creator, provider, sustainer, protector, lawgiver, friend and father, and He will also be our judge one day. The best way for us to live is to enjoy His love for us as we also walk in fear and respect for Him.
There is a huge difference between knowing about God, even getting in depth education from Bible colleges, and knowing Him personally and walking with Him on a moment by moment basis. Intellectual knowledge has its own appeal, when we know the answers to various questions and feel good about it. But the plain fact is that this type of knowledge is not going to give us marks in heaven, and many times we will discover the limits of this knowledge in practical situations.
We need a real Person with whom we can relate in all the situations of life, knowing that He understands, cares, has time for us, is able to do whatever He wants, and always has our best interests at heart. Then He becomes a very present friend and help in times of trouble.
This article is not a comparison of the ideas about God that different religions have, but a look at the characteristics of God whom the Bible reveals. God has revealed Himself to man through history, through direct and indirect ways, and the Bible is a God-given record of His acts and His dealings with man.
God as our Creator
He is the One who has created the whole universe and everything in it, from the galaxies to the smallest particles in the atom. He is infinitely big, almighty and all-knowing, which many people seem to have problems believing. So, many Christians cannot believe the miracles that are recorded in the Bible and they try to find natural explanations for everything. They forget that He is the one who created everything that is around including the laws of nature, and they are not able to accept that He can override any of these laws when He has to do what we consider as a miracle. But if we don't recognise God as being this infinite Creator, we cannot relate to Him in the right way.If we were the result of chance chemical occurrences, then there would be no basis for any moral right or wrong. But we all do have a sense of right and wrong in our conscience from birth because God has created us with not just a body and mind, but also a spirit (Rom.2:14,15). One reason why people try their best to avoid having to give a place for God is that they know then they would become accountable to Him. But honest scientists know that even finding the so-called 'God particle' does not explain everything about life, but only God can.
God knows what is going on in every part of our life, including what we think and feel (Psa.139:2-4). We can go to Him with boldness and confidence with whatever we need or whatever we are struggling with because we know He understands us fully as our creator, beyond what anybody else can. Nothing is too big or too small for Him. On the other hand, there is nothing anyone can hide from Him.
God is absolutely holy
God is perfect in every way and there is no flaw in Him. When it comes to moral values, there is righteousness, holiness, justice, impartiality, love, mercy, kindness, patience and every other virtue balanced perfectly in His character. If we think of goodness as light, we can say there is absolutely no darkness in Him (1Jn.1:5). This is the concept of God we have to receive by faith, because we have never met any human being like this and we tend to be limited in our human understanding. No spiritual leaders have been without fault, and if it is from them that we try to get a picture of God, we must know that God is above and beyond all of them in an infinite way (Exo.15:11).Perfect in goodness
God is entirely good, and there is no evil intention in Him. He has clearly revealed to us that all His plans for us are for our welfare and none for any disaster (Jer.29:11). This verse stands out when we realise that this was God's declaration to a people who did not deserve this, to Israel who had been sent out into exile for their idolatry and who had not still repented. That makes it clear that His heart towards us is inherently good, and not based on our performance.Many people are confused about God when they hear that He is good and almighty and yet there is so much evil in this world. This was not God's intention when He created man. But all the evil we see around us are the direct result of man's sins or the indirect result of the selfish way man has been exploiting the earth over the years. Once we understand this, we must stop blaming God and holding Him responsible for our suffering. In this context, some people hold out this verse, "If a trumpet is blown in a city, will the people not tremble? If a disaster occurs in a city, has the LORD not brought it about?" (Amo.3:6), to point out that God has held Himself responsible for evil. When we remember that disasters are the consequences of man's sin, we can understand that God has allowed these consequences to take place as a punishment for the wicked and a warning to the others. God's true intention is that we should not sin, and then no such consequences will happen.
God sometimes disciplines His children to teach them to become careful not to sin (Heb.12:9,10). His intention there is our good, even though we might feel as if He is being hard on us.
God is love
This is really an extension of His goodness. What He desires is the good of everyone, and that is He loves even sinners (Jn.3:16). He does not want anyone to perish but all to be saved (2Pet.3:9). That is why He sent Jesus, His Son, to die in order to take the punishment for the sins of the whole world.Just as no one can receive forgiveness automatically just because Jesus has died in their place, without acknowledging themselves as sinners before God, repenting from their sins and receiving forgiveness and acceptance as an undeserved favour from God (grace), we cannot automatically enjoy the love of God in our daily life. We ought to walk in love, and the more we do that, the more we come to the place where we can experience God's love towards us. There is a level of love which even sinners can receive from God, but only those who get close to Him can experience the depths of His love.
God is just
The courts of this world are there to see if people have committed crime and then to punish the guilty appropriately. God is also a Judge. But He is the only one who knows the complete details about everyone, who sees all sides of the situation and is able to make a perfectly righteous judgment. His desire is to show mercy, but He cannot afford to ignore justice in the process. He became able to meet the requirements of justice when our sins were punished as Jesus took the punishment in our place, and now He is able to show us mercy when we go to Him acknowledging it (Jas.2:13).Many times, people like to receive mercy as a free gift, without considering what they actually deserve and without going to God with truth and humility. They have only heard about grace and not about God's righteousness and justice.
God is also impartial when it comes to justice. Moses, David and Solomon were His favourites in one way, but He did not ignore their sins because He loved them, and each of them went through discipline.
God's grace
Grace is the special feature of the Gospel that draws sinners to God. When we realise what we really deserve from this holy God against whom we have sinned, His grace is like finding water in the desert. Grace is the favour that God is willing to offer us as a free gift when we go to Him acknowledging what we really deserve. The Greek word used for grace in the New Testament is charis, which means 'gift'. Grace cannot be earned and can only be received as an undeserved favour from God. "Now to the one who works, the wages are not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness" (Rom.4:4,5). This grace comes to us in two ways, by offering us mercy when we have sinned, and help when we need it, e.g., when we are tempted to sin (Heb.4:16).How can we receive this grace? Only by seeing ourselves as undeserving sinners in the sight of God, owning up our sins and having faith to receive the death of Jesus as the sufficient sacrifice for our atonement. It is very important to note here that it is not about using the right words in our prayer, but having the right attitude in our heart.
The reason why God went through the pain of seeing His Son suffer and die was to gain us as His children. When we go to Him in faith, He forgives our sins, transfers the righteousness of Jesus into our account, and adopts us as His children. Then we can begin to experience a relationship with Him as our Father, and as we walk closely with Him we can also begin to experience a relationship with Him as our closest Friend. He is the Friend who knows all about us, including our past failures and present weaknesses and still is guaranteed to be with us always (Heb.13:5).
How we may misunderstand God Many of us do not recognise God as who He really is, and we entertain wrong ideas about Him coloured by our own experiences with people. Some people think of Him as an extended version of man, and then they cannot imagine God doing miracles or supernatural things. Some cannot come to terms with the infinite aspect of His character in terms of grace, love, mercy, justice, righteousness, impartiality, etc. Some cannot figure out answers to their intellectual doubts. But God's promise is that all who seek Him honestly can find Him.
One mistake many people make is that they think they are seeking God, but they are actually seeking Him only to meet their earthly needs, somewhat like a genie or a servant. They are not seeking Him as God because they are not willing to submit to Him or His ways. As a result, they never enjoy fellowship with God as a father or a friend.
A very common mistake we can make is to project our experiences with our earthly father to God, and unconsciously assume that God must be like that. Then we think of Him as being too strict, too demanding and setting unreachable goals before us, unwilling to listen to us and understand how we think and feel, forcing His views upon us as a dictator, pouncing on us when we make any mistake, not being available when we want Him, keeping Himself too busy or too distant from us, etc.
But God is altogether lovely, and the best thing that can have is to get to know Him as who He really is. That is what He offers us through the Bible. When we get to know Him really, we will fall in love with Him, fall down before Him and worship Him, and begin to do everything He tells us.