How Big is Your God?
My God isn’t big enough. Of course, I never actually said those words. Good Christians don’t say things like that.
My God isn’t big enough. Yet that was the message communicated through my worry, fear, and anger when life didn’t follow my agenda. Then I excused my behavior. Maybe you’ve uttered similar rationalizations. “I can’t help my emotions. It’s how God made me. I’m only human.”
So I threw myself into prayer, Bible study, and ministry. But relying on external activities—even spiritual ones—was another attempt at controlling life in my own strength.
What I really needed instead was to elevate my perspective of God.
In his book, The Knowledge of the Holy, author A.W. Tozer wrote, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” Everything in our Christian life flows from our understanding of who God is. So I began the journey of exploring God’s names and attributes as He revealed them in His Word. The Bible tells us that those who know God’s name are able to trust Him (Psalm 9:10), and I wanted to be able to trust Him more than I had in the past. In the process, I realized my perspective of God had been terribly limited.
A.W. Tozer wrote, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” Share on XIf you find yourself living the Christian life in your own strength, trying harder but not experiencing change, consider the following:
- Start with who God is.
One of my biggest mistakes was to focus on one name or attribute to the exclusion of all others. But focusing only on God’s love left me with an anything-goes god who tolerates sin. And focusing only on God’s holiness created an unloving fire-and-brimstone god.
God is love and holy. He is merciful and just. He is all these things and more. To truly know Him, I needed to learn all that He is—not just one or two characteristics that appealed to who I wanted Him to be.
As you read your Bible, ask yourself what the passage reveals about God’s nature. Then praise Him for who He is!
- See yourself in relation to who God is.
The more I learned God’s nature, the more I learned who I am in relation to Him. Any doubts I harbored about how far I fall short of God’s perfection were banished by studying His holiness, righteousness, and justice.
But I also saw His love and care, and how He redeemed and sustains us in all things. God valued us enough to sacrifice His own Son to restore us to Him.
God does not change (Malachi 3:6). As you study His names and attributes, ask yourself, How is my life impacted today because God is who He says He is?
- Enter into relationships in light of who God is.
God is personal and relational. We see this in the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Just as fellowship exists in the Trinity, God created humanity for fellowship with each other and with Him.
The more we learn who God is, the more we’ll understand the priority He places on relationships and the characteristics needed to nurture those relationships.
The fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23)—are communicable attributes of God that He develops in us. Ask Him to show you which ones are missing from your relationships. Instead of trying harder to develop these characteristics yourself, submit to the Holy Spirit in those areas and watch Him increase them in you!
Studying God’s names and attributes helped me understand that not only is my God big enough, He is bigger than I could ever imagine!
Recommended resource:
Reflections on the Names of God: 180 Devotions to Know God More Fully
https://www.amazon.com/Reflections-Names-God-Devotions-Fully/dp/080074098X
Thank you for reminding me to put my focus back on God and some ways to do that.
I love this reminder to view all our relationships through our relationship with God. Thanks, Ava. God bless!
I am thankful we can have a deep and meaningful relationship with God.
Good message, Ava. I’ve always loved the quote you mention by Tozer. I like how you relate our God not being big enough when we worry, etc…
Wow, great message. Tozer’s point, what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us, is really telling. I always come back to massive and genuine love at the root and core of all God is, and thinking about this in relation to Tozer’s point, I think that doe sum up why I also do what I do in life. It truly is all about love for me.
Great title. It is important to see all our relationship through the lens of our faith. Great message. Thanks Ava.