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When I was younger I had an incorrect view of God.  My view of God is now correct, but still incomplete.

• An incorrect view is to not see God as loving.  An incomplete view is to not fully understand how loving he is.

• An incorrect view is to not see God as powerful.  An incomplete view is to not fully comprehend his power.

• An incorrect view is to not see God as gracious.  An incomplete view is to not fully fathom his amazing grace.

Incorrect & incomplete. There is a big difference.

Dallas Willard says this about one’s view of God in The Divine Conspiracy…..

Central to the understanding and proclamation of the Christian gospel today, as in Jesus’ day, is a re-visioning of what God’s own life is like and how the physical cosmos fits into it.  It is a great and important task to come to terms with what we really think when we think of God.

Willard goes on to include this description of God by Adam Clarke…….

the eternal, independent, and self-existent Being; the Being whose purposes and actions spring from himself, without foreign motive or influence; he who is absolute in dominion; the most pure, the most simple, the most spiritual of all essences; infinitely perfect; and eternally self-sufficient, needing nothing that he has made; illimitable in his immensity, inconceivable in his mode of existence, and indescribable in his essence; known fully only by himself, because an infinite mind can only be fully comprehended by itself.  In a word, a Being who, from his infinite wisdom, cannot err or be deceived, and from his infinite goodness, can do nothing but what is eternally just and right, and kind.

Love that description.

An accurate and correct description of God…yes.

A complete description of God….probably not.

How do you see Him?

At church we are in the middle of a series titled Where The Wild Things Are: Capture The Wonder of an Untamed God.

This past weekend, Tierce Green presented a great message called Wild Grace.  It was an incredible reminder of the wild grace that God has extended to us and a challenge for us to extend wild grace to others.

3 characteristics of Wild Grace were presented……

1. Wild grace goes beyond what is required
2. Wild grace serves those who are undeserving
3. Wild grace expects nothing in return

A few other notes from the message……

• Grace is the environment where spiritual growth occurs.
• The Bible never tells us to grow in the law.
• We are to be extravagant with grace.
• God’s grace enables us to serve those who have denied, deserted, or betrayed us.
• Holding a grudge is like drinking poison expecting someone else to die.
• If you go beyond what is required, serve those who are undeserving, and expect nothing in return….they might not change, but you will.

Our God is an untamed God who extends wild grace to each of us and He enables us to extend wild grace to others.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday I spent some time reading through Crazy Love: Overwhelmed By A Relentless God by Francis Chan.

Great book. Challenging book.

The basic premise of the book is this (as noted on the back cover)…..

God is calling you to a passionate love relationship with Himself.  Because the answer to religious complacency isn’t working harder at a list of do’s and don’ts – it’s falling in love with God.  And once you encounter His love, as Francis describes it, you will never be the same.  Because when you’re wildly in love with someone, it changes everything.

2 chapters in the book that really grabbed me were Chapter 4 // Profile of the Lukewarm and Chapter 8 // Profile of the Obsessed.  In chapter 4, Chan shoots straight with a “description of what halfhearted, distracted, partially committed, lukewarm people can look like”.

For example….

LUKEWARM PEOPLE are continually concerned with playing it safe; they are slaves to the god of control.  This focus on safe living keeps them from sacrificing and risking for God.

He follows it up, in chapter 8, with a challenging description of how people who are obsessed with God might act.

For example,

People who are OBSESSED with Jesus give freely and openly, without censure.  Obsessed people love those who hate them and who can never love them back.

Here are a few more lines from the book that I highlighted….

- I grew up believing in God without having a clue what He is like. (me too!)

- Isn’t it a comfort to worship a God we cannot exaggerate?

- You could die before you finish reading this chapter.

- The point of your life is to point to Him.

- The greatest knowledge we can ever have is knowing God treasures us.

- So there is an incalculable, faultless, eternal God who loves the frail beings He made with a crazy kind of love……He persists in loving us with unending, outrageous love.

- Jesus asks for everything.  But we try to give Him less.

- Jesus’ call to commitment is clear: He wants all or nothing.  The thought of a person calling himself a “Christian” without being a devoted follower of Christ is absurd.

- In the midst of our failed attempts at loving Jesus, His grace covers us.

- Dare to imagine what it would mean for you to take the words of Jesus seriously.

- We never grow closer to God when we just live life; it takes deliberate pursuit and attentiveness.

- Our view of the Holy Spirit is too small……It is individual people living Spirit-filled lives that will change the church.

I spent my Thanksgiving giving thanks for a crazy love from a relentless God and pondering this question:  Am I truly obsessed with Him or just lukewarm?

This idea of God’s grace…..

has been messing with me (in a good way) for the past few days since I listened to a message by Louie Giglio titled Fruitcake & Ice Cream.

In this message, Mr. Giglio serves as storyteller.  The story of a young girl.  A “fruitcake” and God’s grace enter the picture and everything changes.

Check out this blog post for the background on this story and then go here and select the Home Free – Even Me message series to hear or watch the full story.

All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn’t, and doesn’t, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down.  Romans 5:20 (MSG)

This idea of God’s grace.  It is fascinating.  Revolutionary.  It is really quite amazing.

At church and in my small group we have been studying heaven.

Before we started, honestly, I didn’t understand the importance of doing a deep study on heaven.

After all, it is a perfect place in the presence of God and it lasts forever…..and I am going there someday. That was good enough for me.

Several weeks into this study, I am beginning to understand why God provides glimpses of heaven in His Word.

Here is what I am learning…….

• Focusing on the eternal nature of heaven allows me to more clearly see the temporal nature of this world and all the stuff in it.

• Focusing on the perfection of heaven allows me to more clearly see the brokenness of this world and everyone in it (including me).

• Focusing on the magnificence of heaven allows me to more clearly see the insignificance of my possessions in this world.

• Focusing on heaven allows me to more clearly see that I need to live differently.