A few years ago, a Bible study I did with a group from church really made me evaluate what I thought about God. I mean, I knew He was God, and He created everything, and He saved me, and all the things most Christians know. But…it made me think about what it truly means to believe God is who He says He is. This tied right in with whether or not I live in a way that expresses my belief.
Now, all this thinking and evaluating did not happen overnight. It was a process, and I can’t report that it’s been finalized. I don’t think we finish being a Christian – like we reach the 7th level of whatever and that’s it (I’m not talking about when we die – that’s a different matter). We are continually growing, learning, and maturing spiritually. It’s part of the sanctification process.
But now, since you have been set free from sin and have become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification – and the outcome is eternal life! For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:22-23
So, the Lord led me to take an honest look at myself. I read the Bible and studied. I prayed. Not everything I saw was roses. There were a lot of thorns. It wasn’t pretty or easy, but my heart belongs to God and He began to transform me. It’s nothing I’ve done on my own – like I wasn’t checking off a list to become more righteous – He was changing me.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!
2 Corinthians 5:17
I believe the most important thing about anybody – everybody – is what they think about God.
What you think about God defines who you are.
So, who are you?
Here are some categories people fall into:
- Never think about God
- Think about God in times of crisis
- God is a useful tool
- Think about God a lot
- God is in your heart and on your mind continually
Let’s take a moment to dig just a little deeper into these 5 categories to better understand what could be going on in the lives of these people. Some characteristics may cross over into others, we are all individuals, so we have to keep that in mind.
Never think about God
If you never think about God, you live your life without Him. He has no role in your life whatsoever. You probably don’t believe He even exists. You may think people who believe in Him are dumb or brainwashed, and the Bible is just a story written a long time ago that has no evidence. Maybe you think life itself is all explained through science. (I’m actually going to be addressing the existence of God in an upcoming post, so I won’t put all that information here at this time).
Well, God does exist. He is the Creator of all things, and simply not believing in Him will not suffice when you stand before Him.
For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse. For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles (Romans 1:18-23).
The Bible doesn’t need me, or anyone else to defend it. It is God’s word breathed out (2 Timothy 3:16). But, I’ll give you a little information to chew on. Historical documents are determined authentic by comparing the number of manuscripts recovered, and the time between the originals and the copies. Now, feel free to look this information up, I encourage you to do so. There’s around 24,000 ancient documents that support the New Testament. The only ancient manuscript that comes close has 1900, and the ancient work taking third place has 106. The Bible has far and above more evidence than any other historical document that ever existed. As far as how much time passed between the originals and the copies, the Bible is measured in years or decades. All other ancient writings are measured in hundreds of years.1
So, evidence, as far as man measures it, is not the problem.
Think about God in times of crisis
You call on God when you need or want Him. Outside of those two situations, you easily fall back into your life with little thought of God, His blessings in your life, or who He is, much less whether or not how you live is in accordance with His word.
God is my helper;
Psalm 54:4
the Lord is the sustainer of my life.
God is a useful tool
You use God to blame things on, belittle, mock, or ridicule believers, or joke about. You may be angry at Him, or not, but primarily you want to put Him in a box and pretend He doesn’t exist while at the same time use His name in vain.
They speak against you with malicious intent;
Psalm 139:20
your enemies take your name in vain.
You may be using God as a tool by pretending to be a Christian for whatever purposes, but in reality, your life does not reflect God because you haven’t accepted Him as your Lord and Savior.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of the bones of the dead and every kind of impurity. In the same way, on the outside you seem righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
Matthew 23:27-28
Think about God a lot
You could be a Christian or a non-believer, but you are on a journey either way. As a Christian, you are still a babe in Christ or young adult (spiritually speaking). Continue – or return – in His ways, learning, praying, and worshipping, and He will bless you.
Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord;
Hosea 6:3
his going out is sure as the dawn;
he will come to us as the showers,
as the spring rains that water the earth
To the non-believer, don’t stop asking questions. Seek the truth. Don’t just take something you see on Facebook as fact. God is real, and He’s waiting for you. Yes, you personally.
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
Matthew 7:7-8
God is in your heart and on your mind continually
You are becoming spiritually mature. You have a close relationship with God. You regularly read the Bible, pray, and worship Him. Sometimes when you just begin to wake up in the morning, your mind is already halfway through a gospel hymn or other Christian song. The sin you see in the world, as well as your own, makes you sick and sad at the same time. Your heart is full of love. You want everyone to know God the way you do. You fight your flesh at times, but your will always bends to His. You are not perfect, and you know it. You probably talk less now than when you yourself were still a babe in Christ, and your conversations are different.
Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit, (Psalm 34:13).
No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear. And don’t grieve God’s Holy Spirit. You were sealed by him for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander be removed from you, along with all malice, (Ephesians 4:29-31).
Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer each person, (Colossians 4:6).
You are able to digest solid spiritual food, have discernment, and can teach others about God, (Hebrews 5:11-14). You love righteousness and Truth and abhor self-righteousness and lies.
You see God everywhere: the face of a child, fresh-fallen snow, the song of a bird, the first sprouts of your spring garden, the death of your father, the second chance at life your brother got after a major heart attack, and a million other places. His blessings are all around you, and He is good.
You know God is real. He lives in your heart. You’ve seen Him in action. You’ve had some difficult times in your life, and you know God has always been with you – comforting you, guiding you, loving you. Your life is different now because you have been transformed from within, and you know you have more growing yet to do. You are still learning and still falling short. God is who He says He is, and you live in a way that expresses you believe it.
Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus. Therefore, let all of us who are mature think this way. And if you think differently about anything, God will reveal this also to you.
Philippians 3:12-15
Who are you? My prayer is that you are a Christian who believes God is who He says He is. If you have yet to believe in God, I pray you will repent and accept Him as your Lord and Savior and come to know Him.
I will be examining who God says He is in my next post. Stay tuned.
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1. Ferrer, H. M. (2019). Chapter 7. In Mama Bear Apologetics (p. 119). Harvest House Publishers.
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