God, Is That You?

What if I were to say that on the news today, it was reported that Christianity is no longer a viable practice, and everyone that worshipped Jesus would be put in jail? Pretty shocking, attention getting none-the-less. Well, this post isn't concerning that and I don't forsee that happening, but it did grab your attention, huh?

In Psalm 24, the writer makes a statement that should be just as grabbing as above.

Read Ps. 24:1-2. Who does the author draw our attention to? Is this a good place to have our attention drawn? Of course it is. The starting place of being a 24:6 generation is God.

Think about some of the ways that we picture God. We see Him as:
An Old Man
A Mean Disciplinarian
Some Cosmic Thing
The Earth/Trees/Water
Anything Else...
And...we project our ideas and conceptions about our earthly fathers on God. If we have a father that left us as children, we will project an idea of God as not being faithful. If we see our father as a person that is never pleased, we will get lost in good deeds trying to please God. If we view our dad as a strict disciplinarian, we will usually view God as waiting for us to mess up to strike us down. These are faulty, exagerated views of God.

Let's have a look at one of the names used for God in the Old Testament.

Elohim.

Elohim is a plural term. Does this mean that we're polytheistic, or that we worship more than one God? No, but there is something trying to be communicated to us through the use of this name. There are at least two significances about Elohim being plural. First, it allows (although not demanding) our Trinitarian doctrine of God. God is Father, Son and Spirit. Now, it's difficult to explain just how this works out. My favorite illustratin of it is water, which is a gas, a solid and a liquid. However, all illustrations break down at some point. Let us, for this discussion, simply explore how we experience God as Father, Son and Spirit.

As Father:

Everlasting love - Rom. 5:8
Disciplinarian - Pr. 3:12
Can't loose His love - Rom. 8:38-39
He delights in us - Pr. 3:12
Protector - Pr. 18:10
Provider- Gen. 22:14

As Son:

Salvation - Jn. 3:16
Teacher (in parables) - Ps. 78:2
Lord - Rom. 10:9-10
Unchanging - Heb. 13:8
Intercessor/Priest - Heb. 10:19-22

As Spirit:

Points us to Jesus - Jn. 15:26
Convicts us - Jn. 16:8
Intercedes in prayer life - Rom. 8:26
Guides us - Jn. 16:13

Now we could, and should, study the Scripture all the days of our life, and this list would not prove to scratch the surface of how the Trinity works His Self out in our lives. This is just something to jump-start our thinking about God.

The other understanding we can draw from the plurality of Elohim is that an emphasis is being placed on God's majesty and power...on His...being God. The Hebrew language will use a word in the plural to strenghten its meaning. There is an emphasis on just how great God is.

As a child, some may have sang the song "If I had a little white box, to put my Jesus in. I'd take Him out and 'kiss, kiss, kiss' and share Him with my friends." Well, truth is, we are a lot more comfortable with putting Jesus right back in His little white box. And we limit our God to just the right size to fit in our box. Truth is, God can never be contained in our little white box, only our view of Him. We just get uncomfortable when He moves outside of our box. But part of being a 24:6 generation requires us seeing God outside of this box. We are comfortable with God as Savior or Best Friend, and we like to wear our "Jesus is my homeboy" T-shirts, but God is also Lord and Disciplinarian...and we don't like that too much. We make our box and try to cram an infinite God inside of it, when truthfully our prayer should be "God, increase my view of who You are!"

Being a 24:6 generation starts with God. How's your view?