Our view of God

How our expectations can quietly turn into conditions

Many of us have a great deal of knowledge about what the Bible teaches on God’s character. However, I wonder if we live as though certain parts of God are less true or perhaps completely untrue for us. For instance, we may logically understand that God is perfect and all good things come from Him (James 1:17) and that He holds all authority and nothing is out of His power (Jeremiah 32:17). But, do we inwardly reject the pieces of Him which we do not understand?

If we diminish just one of His attributes our whole view of God is minimized. We want Him to act in certain ways in our life and in the world. But when He doesn’t, our expectations can quietly become conditions for our devotion.

Of course–we might say–that would contradict what we know of God described to us in the Bible. But do we live as if it were true?

God as Omnipotent But Not Sovereign
Perhaps we resonate more with a moralistic view of God. We can easily get behind His authority, but His love feels a bit less familiar. The rules outlined in the Bible do not feel so burdensome to implement. They are quite helpful because they clearly outline what a “good Christian ought to do.” Perhaps the confidence we thrive in is fueled by our compliance to abide by them.

Although inwardly our pursuit of holiness exhausts us more than give us this life-giving flourishing we are promised. While we may feel gratification for the times we measure up to the standards we believe in, when we fail them it shatters us. It’s an exhausting roller-coaster of emotions as we ebb and flow in our Christian commitments.

This view of God promotes our own performance in our Christian life as a sort of prerequisite to His faithfulness to us.

We must obey God. But, is it really for our good? It feels more like obliging a duty and less like a response of affection. The laws of the Lord feel far from our delight (Psalm 1:2). If we’re overtly aware of our own shortcomings, how can His love even be trusted? We may see Him more as a difficult-to-please dictator and less like a relational Father. Perhaps we’ve missed something along the way. This is a far cry from the so-called freedom we hear we’re meant to have in Christ.

God as Sovereign But Not Omnipotent

On the other hand, we may believe God to be good but instead have difficulty with His authority. It is His goodness which may initially compel us to know Him. Among other things, Christianity provides a sense of relief from the evil we see so evidently around us. God’s love is exactly what we’re all about, but His authority may make us uncomfortable.

Why might this be? Perhaps we’ve seen it used previously to excuse abuse from leadership, or as a weaponization for manipulation, or many other heinous things under the name of religion and following “God’s direction.”

While His love draws us in, we may be less moved by His commands because they don’t always make sense to us. There are times when we cannot understand what He is doing in our life. Or, maybe, we’ve come across difficult-to-understand scriptures that make us feel uneasy. We’re conflicted. Do we believe that God knows better than we do?

It might be easier to follow Christian commands as a general guideline so long as it makes logical sense in our modern minds. We may study the Bible through the lens of our self-imposed expectations of God rather than observing what the texts reveal to us about Him. With this perspective, God reminisces more of a fantasy figure than a Deity. He is one we can go to when we want something but cannot rely on necessarily getting that particular thing. He’s kind, but not perfect.

In a loveless view of God, we may find our confidence in our upheld moralistic behaviors. In a non-authoritative view, however, our confidence wanes on our ability to feel like a good person. We care for the needs of those who are often overlooked and speak for the one who doesn’t have a voice. But no matter how hard we try, we seem to be always missing the mark of the standards we make for ourselves. Are we doing enough? Did we make enough difference in the world? The confidence we feel even in our best moments still feels lacking.

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If we attempt to remove the parts of His character which we do not relate to, do we also subject Him to our own interpretation and therefore create our own version of a god? Just as those who struggle with God’s goodness, we may feel like we’ve sourced the superior way of being a Christian. Although our versions of God appear different. In our pursuit of holiness, I wonder if we want to be good so badly that we stop caring if it’s defined by God or not.

Both viewpoints described are not inherently evil, although we can certainly use them to be. They can reveal a deeply ingrained holy desire which God has impressed on us. We admire God’s authority to the point we would rather not see the parts of Him which don’t seem to fit. Or, we love His love so that we can’t possibly see how He would demand anything of us that doesn’t make sense.

God is not something which we can pick apart, choosing aspects of His character to formulate a version we’re more comfortable with. We may know this in theory but still struggle living this out in practice.

What if these tendencies don’t reveal a flaw within us, but rather a misguided passion? And, in limiting our view of God, we also limit ourselves and the purpose He’s given us. Perhaps, He’s made us for so much more than we’ve settled for. The god we’ve crafted is small, weak, and needy. It will fail us time and again so that we may begin to believe that it is God who is failing us.

Maybe there’s something about God’s sovereignty and omnipotence which scares us. A God which cannot be fully understood. This God cannot be tamed or presented more palatable for our modern appetite. His existence is not dependent on our conception of Him. Yet, in all His glory, maybe His love is unfathomably more accessible than we think. Maybe there is rich life waiting for us beyond our limited view of God.