How Would Your Life Change?

If you saw God as He really is what would you do differently?

I'm rereading one of my favorite books, The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer and Tozer begins the book with a monster line.

"What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us."

Studying the attributes of God is one of the most fruitful exercises in my faith life.  I am forced to ask myself what I would do if I really believed that God is as He says He is.  You can't think about and meditate on God's attributes, His self-existence, His self-sufficiency, His eternality, infinitude, immutability, omniscience, wisdom, omnipotence, omnipresence, faithfulness, His goodness, justice, mercy, love, grace, holiness and sovereignty and not be very practically and irrevocably affected.

Many will say this is the work of theologians and not the layman.  They will ask for three points and a poem and something practical for their week, but I say this is the most practical exercise for all Christians.  Seeing God as accurately as we can, as perfectly as He's revealed Himself to be, will change your life.

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." Proverbs 9:10

Our wisdom, that is our skill for living life, is rooted in seeing God rightly and thinking about Him as Scripture reveals Him to be.  This is not for scholars alone, this is for the everyday Christian who wants to live life well.

If you saw God as He really is would your life look different?

Would His infinitude, self-sufficiency and omniscience cause you to tremble?  Would his omnipresence, justice and holiness cause you to act differently in His presence?  Would His mercy, love and grace cause you to be humble?  Would His omnipotence, wisdom and sovereignty make you actually trust Him?  How would your life be different?

The bottom line is that God is who He says He is and we must think about who He is.  We must "be transformed by the renewing of our minds" (Romans 12:2).  Yes, our minds.  All of us must be thinkers.  We as Christians must be ones who think critically and often about who our God is.

As A.W. Tozer says, "... because we are the handiwork of God, it follows that all our problems and their solutions are theological."  And by theological he means the study of who God is.  He continues, "Some knowledge of what kind of God it is that operates the universe is indispensable to a sound philosophy of life and a sane outlook on the world scene." On another page he writes, "It is morally imperative that we purge from our minds all ignoble concepts of the Deity and let Him be the God in our minds that He is in His universe."

If you saw God as He really is what would you do differently?

I challenge you to think and think deeply about who our God is and then in faith act accordingly today.