Who is God?

The title to my blog seems to be the best way to generalize the conversations I've had with multiple people lately. It's a question that we assume would come from someone who has never stepped into a church but I'm finding that this is not the case lately. The question seems to arise mostly from people who were raised in church or have spent a large sum of their life claiming to be a christian. Yet, after years of being in the church, people seem to be finding themselves walking out with the question, "Who is God?". 


It's almost like living in a home your whole life with someone who you call Dad, you have conversations with him, you tell him you love him, and yet you wake up one day going "Who is my Dad?".


Let me try to clarify my intention behind this question. I'm not asking the question as if you don't know who the person is (as if you couldn't identify them) but I'm stating the question in a more broad term such as who the person is in aspect of their character, their personality, etc. I would say the majority of the people who identify themselves as Christians could identify God, but couldn't give you a description of his character. It's really sad if you think about it. Not really knowing someone who you would identify as one of the most important aspects in your life. It's like being married to someone for years and finding out that when your spouse is asked questions about you all they can say is "Well, I've been married to them for a very long time and all I can tell you is that they are a good spouse." 


So who are we to blame? Who are we to point fingers at? Or do we blame someone else? Do we hold some else accountable for our lack of knowledge? I don't have the answers, all I know is these tend to be most people's typical reactions when they realize they are not as knowledgeable of something as they had originally thought they were. 


I can't speak for others but I can speak from my own personal experience. Who God truly is has been hidden and distorted in so many ways. It isn't God hiding it, it's me, you, others, the church, etc. Who God REALLY is gets buried by theology, pride, judgement, and anything else that is human. Then when you put a group of people together who are willing/ longing/ needing to see who God REALLY is, you begin to see His real power, His love, and it's INTENSE. And to be honest, it's terrifying. It's terrifying to realize the reality of how much power God has.You're never the same afterwards. But, you also find His love is ridiculous. Just from the amount I have experienced there are no words to describe the intensity. All I know, is that it's something that is not comfortable to experience at first because it almost seems unreal. 


I have truly loved a few people in my life. I loved them so much that it didn't matter what they did that hurt me I was still willing to take them back and I was willing (and still am willing) to go out of my way for them if I knew it would help them. Just to know that I am willing to experience this type of love blows my mind because I know that is an example of God's love. And in reality, that love is only a speck of an example of the love Christ has to give. 


I don't know if any of this makes sense to anyone but it's something that has really been on my mind lately. 


I guess what I'm trying to say is, if the God you have in your mind is hateful and judgmental you've been misled. Though he will judge us in the end, I have come to experience that judgement is his last resort and is therefore not WHO he is. He chooses to love first and he wants to love in an extravagant way. I challenge anyone and everyone to look for this loving God because scripture states that "If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me." Jeremiah 29:13. This will be my prayer for anyone who seeks to find this loving God. I pray that you will find Him and see the God I'm talking about. But also know "If you search for good, you will find favor; but if you search for evil, it will find you!" Proverbs 11:27. If you set your focus on the bad, you'll find it but I promise it won't be God. The bad you will find will be the lies of Satan because there is nothing evil or bad in my God.


I want so badly for everyone to experience and know that God I'm coming to know and love SO MUCH! The process of changing your mindset is difficult but it's worth it. If you go back to my very first blog posting, you can read through and see the struggles that I've dealt with over the past 6 months. Has it gotten easier? No. But I'm finally seeing and coming to terms the struggles I have and there's a small comfort in knowing that despite the ugly truth I'm having to see, it's helping me and my relationship with the Lord and I wouldn't change it for anything in the world.