Who is God to You?

Who is God to You?  Ephesians 1.2

Paul offers grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ … all good, actually great!  But it makes me think—who is this God who offers grace and peace? 

Driving four young teens home from church Sunday night, (a 35-minute ride), I turned off the music to get their full attention. 

‘So Guys, I have a question for you--who is God?’

From the back seat, ‘He is old, wears a white robe, has long white hair and a white beard.’ 

My 14-year-old son quickly added, ‘You mean Morgan Freeman.’

‘Haha, yes, maybe—it’s just that the white robe picture from television is all I have, and I feel I need something to help me visualize him,’ the first explained.

Another girl—full of thoughts—said, ‘A second chance…God is a second chance.’

‘You win,’ the first one said, realizing her description captured something of God’s essence.  It also captured something else—her experience of God.

At first what we know about God comes exclusively from external sources—parents (maybe), church, even Scripture.  It gives enough to cause us to want more of him, a call to want to follow, and so we do.  In our following—that is, if we choose to follow Christ beyond an initial decision—we are able to come to know God personally; we form some sort of personal connection to God, a knowledge of who God is to us.  Indeed, it is in our daily walking with God—doing life with him—that we develop a greater and purer sense of the person of God.

‘I know this—he is a present force—I feel him,’ the first was then able to explain, since pressed a little more.  ‘I feel God near me.’

‘Ah,’ I said, ‘now you’re onto something, and that something cannot be taken away from you, not ever.  No one can deny your feeling of God’s presence in your life.’  It is what Paul explained in Romans 8.16, ‘For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children.’  Oh that is so good.

‘He is a miracle worker!’ another proffered from the back seat.  ‘I know because he healed my brother of serious kidney problems when he was nine; my family prayed, others prayed, God healed him!’

‘So what does that tell you about who God is, then?’  I asked.

Then our car-full discussed that when God heals, it shows he is supernatural, able to answer our prayers, compassionate, and involved with each of us individually.  It started out as just a ride home from church, but then it became a time in which we learned and stretched, explained, and expanded our understanding of God.

Who is God to you, my dear one in Kenya, China, Southern California, and Florida?  You mustn’t let anyone else define him for you . . . please, I challenge you to investigate his claims of who he is—Shepherd, God of very Gods, Light, Life, Love, Way, Truth . . . ask God to reveal himself to you.  Look for him.  There is no pursuit you will undertake that will have any more meaning or far-reaching application than your knowledge of God. 

God is not really good until you have experienced and known his goodness; God is not really ‘love’ unless you have been changed by his love; God is not really great until he has blown your mind!  Otherwise, it is just theory about God or someone else’s experience.  God is not Savior unless you have come to accept what Jesus did for you on the cross, and apprehended that work for yourself.

Truly, Friend, God is only your God when you have come to know him for yourself.  So, I ask you again—who is God to you?