For many of us we know we are sinful, we have hidden guilt and shame that hides away under years and years of damaged conversations. Whether we know Jesus or not we seem to be on an endless cycle of sin which is becoming more and more hopeless.
What we don’t realise, if we know Jesus, is that we are half-way to being able to walk in victory from the slavery to sin. We already know we are sinners! We already know we are broken. The hopelessness of our situation shines a light on the lie that sin is good and is for our benefit.
That’s all very well and good I hear you say but how does that help me, how does facing up to my sin really transform my life, I know I’m hopeless and weak but I feel helpless to do anything about it.
Well maybe we need a different approach; a different focus. Maybe we should start at the beginning and consider who we think our Saviour is or who do we think our Saviour should be.
Just maybe our stumbling block isn’t our sinful behaviour but that we don’t really know who God is, maybe it’s our perception of God that needs to change.
Have you ever considered who God is or considered where your ideas of who God is came from?
How can any of us know who God is or if he really exists?
Our biased viewpoint
For many it is the experiences of life that draws us to make a conclusion about God. Maybe you believe he is a tyrant waiting to catch you out or maybe he is indifferent to your issues here on earth or some may consider God in light of how your own earthly Father treated you. There are dangers considering God purely from our own biased viewpoint.
We are in danger of relating to God without knowing him and if we don’t know him then how can we understand the plans and purposes He has for his creation.
The only way to truly get to know God is to allow Him to introduce himself.
Who does God say He is?
God has given us the bible so that we can get to know who He truly is, He wants to explain why we are here, He wants to tell us about the plans he has for each and everyone of us, he wants to share his creation with us, He wants to share his love with us, in essence God wants to be in relationship with his created children.
If we want to get to know God, then we need to read the bible for ourselves. The bible can seem a really daunting place, or seem stuffy and boring however it is our perspective that needs to change not the bible. In fact unknown to many of us, the bible is a love story which needs to be explored and uncovered.
When I first went on this journey of discovery a wise friend said ‘don’t worry about what you don’t understand but do something about the things that you do’.
Where to start?
From the words of a famous film…..Lets start at the beginning a very good place to start.
For many of us we know Jesus from the Gospels which is fantastic because these are the real live accounts of life with Jesus when he was on the earth. This is were we get to know the person of Jesus and are drawn into a personal relationship with Him.
However, to get a fuller picture of God the book of Genesis is a perfect place to consider who God is, who we are and the plans God has put in place for the benefit of His creation.
Genesis means beginnings, here we discover beginnings of all creation, in particular it is the beginning of relationships. God with us, us with God, us together with God, spoiler alert it is also the beginning of death and destruction.
In Genesis God introduces us to a relationship, a relationship of three, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Genesis 1:26 ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness…’ As we read through the bible we get to see that God is Jesus and Jesus is God. We also learn that the Holy Spirit is God, the invisible outworking of our God and Saviour.
As human beings it is a really hard step for us to grasp the concept of the Holy Spirit and that is why God says it takes faith to decide to trust him. We cannot get to know him purely through logic but equally he doesn’t want us to throw logic out of the window, he wants us to consider all things and be willing to learn.
The amazing miracle of this journey is God can be known in the first place, if we are willing to put our trust in Jesus to show us the way to the Father, he will also show us ‘Who’ he is and all that he has planned for us.
The question is, are we willing to make that step? Mmm where’s my bible….
Living His Word 