GOD IS NOT WHO YOU THINK HE IS

Who is God?

That may be the most important question you will ever answer. Everything about your life, your eternity, and your relationship with Him depends on the answer.

The problem is that many people have created a god of their own imagination. They picture Him as they want Him to be instead of accepting Him as He has revealed Himself to be.

Here is the truth.

God is not who you think He is. God is who He says He is.

The same is true about you.

You are not who you think you are. You are who God says you are.

That is why Scripture matters so much. We cannot discover God by our feelings, our opinions, our traditions, or our experiences. We know Him because He has chosen to reveal Himself through His Word.

Jesus prayed, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” (John 17:17)

If God's Word is truth, then it must become the standard by which we measure everything else, including our ideas about God.

Many people like to describe God as loving, and He is. But they stop there. They ignore that He is also holy, righteous, just, and the Judge of all mankind. Others see Him only as a God of judgment and fail to understand His mercy, patience, and grace.

Both views are incomplete.

God is exactly who He says He is.

When Moses asked God His name, God answered, “I AM WHO I AM.” (Exodus 3:14) God did not ask Moses to define Him. He revealed Himself.

That is still true today.

The question is not, “Who do I think God is?”

The question is, “Who has God revealed Himself to be?”

The same mistake is often made about ourselves.

Many people define themselves by their past. Others define themselves by their failures, their successes, their emotions, or what other people have said about them.

God does none of those things.

When a person comes to Christ, God gives them a new identity.

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

That does not mean we become perfect overnight. It means God no longer defines us by who we were but by who we now are in Christ.

Believers are called children of God. They are forgiven. They are redeemed. They are chosen. They are citizens of His Kingdom. They are ambassadors for Christ.

Those are not opinions.

They are declarations from God Himself.

The world constantly tries to tell us who we are. It tells us to follow our hearts, create our own truth, and decide for ourselves what is right.

Scripture says something very different.

It tells us to deny ourselves, follow Christ, and renew our minds according to the truth of God's Word.

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind...” (Romans 12:2)

Real transformation begins when we stop believing what the world says about God and about ourselves and start believing what God has already said.

That requires humility.

It means laying aside our opinions whenever they disagree with Scripture.

It means allowing God to correct us instead of asking Him to agree with us.

Many people want a God made in their own image.

God is calling us to be conformed to the image of His Son.

That changes everything.

So let me leave you with two questions.

Are you worshiping the God you have imagined?

Or are you worshiping the God who has revealed Himself in His Word?

And are you living according to what the world says you are?

Or according to what God says you are?

Those two questions may determine the course of your entire life.

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“What I write is not for everyone, but what I write is meant for someone.” – Dean Butler

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