IMAGO DEI: November 3, 2016
www.imagodeicommunity.ca
If a son asks his father for bread, would he give him a stone instead?
Matt. 7:9
To know God is to trust God. It’s as simple as that. And the opposite is just as true. To not trust God is an indicator that we do not really know God. In other words, the “god” we do not trust is not really God, but rather a false imagining of our own making. This reasoning also applies to people who believe, for instance, that God is absent, that He has wronged them, or somehow betrayed or abandoned them. The untrustworthy god that they are imagining is not truly God.
To accept the fact that such “gods” are actually fictitious projections of our own fears is a first step towards establishing a more truthful relationship with the real God. Confessing our false images provides an opportunity for us to start all over again— a chance to be re-introduced to this “Jesus I never knew.” The alternative is to continue living in a dysfunctional relationship with the “god” of our fears.
The “God who cannot be trusted” does not really exist. And yet, through our imaginations, we often live in complex relationships with such non-existent gods. It is important to recognize and name the presence of false idols in our theological thinking. Such caricatures are most readily identified by their un-Godlike character,—e.g. the god who is always angry with you, the god who is always disappointed in you, the god who is always demanding more from you. Or, conversely, the god who doesn’t care what you do or how you live.
There are many Christians whose relationship with the spirit they call “God” actually produces desolation in them. But, mercifully, the Lord will not allow us to establish our foundation on such unstable idols. Instead, the inner turmoil these relationships produce is meant to reveal to us the unfittingness of our images of God.
The Lord once taught His disciples how ridiculous it would be to not trust His Father. He asked rhetorically, “if a son asks his father for bread, would he give him a stone instead?” Of course not. That would be laughable. And yet that is exactly what we imply when we imagine God as not being good or faithful towards us.
To know God is to trust God. We can then rest in the secure fact that He is good—in other words, in the truth of who He really is. Faith is what assures us of God’s character—that He loves me, that He is merciful, that He is trustworthy, that He is faithful, that He understands me, and that He will never abandon me. To think of Him otherwise, as Jesus suggests, would be laughable.
Rob Des Cotes
Imago Dei Christian Communities
(written for June 26th, 2014)
FOR GROUP DISCUSSION
- What are some imaginary characteristics of God that you think you might be living with? How would you describe the “merciful turmoil” God allows you to experience in relation to these false images? How does confession of such idols open us to the possibility of a new relationship with God?
- In what ways have you underestimated God in the past? How does the discrepancy between the fearful projections of your imagination and the revelation of God’s character in Scripture suggest that you do not yet know the Lord as fully as you might in these areas?
- Consider the invitation to let go of an image of God that you suspect is false. How would you feel having to start over again with “the Jesus I never knew?” Would you welcome this? Or might you find yourself clinging to the false god you know rather than risking the mystery of the God you don’t know?
FOR PRAYER: Come to God as a child, ready to be taught anew. Confess your ignorance and ask the Lord to reveal Himself to you afresh, as He really is. Let God confirm directly to you all the attributes that Scripture speaks of Him.