The Reality of God and His Love - Part 1

� 2000 William R. Cunningham
November 26, 2000

Thou Shalt Not Sin. Thou Shalt Not Steal. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt go to church every Sunday. Thou shalt pay thine tithes. Thou shalt not wear pants to church. I'm sure you have heard a plethora of commandments, some of which are biblical and others man-made. We know that God does not want us to steal and yet we steal. We know that God wants us to tell the truth and yet we lie. We know that God wants to be the one and only God and yet we worship other gods. Why? I believe that the reason is that God is not as real to us as the object we are facing at the moment of action, whether sin or not. God is practically not real enough to truly worship when trouble comes. To make matters more complicated, we are inundated with rules and regulations from the religious community that take us further away from the reality of God.

Imagine if God were as real to you as the police officer. Imagine if God were as real to you as a fatal disease. What if God were as real to you as the clothes that you have on right now and all of the time. Chances are you would be so afraid to sin that you would be like angels. Yet we sin in the face of God, since he is omnipresent and we learn that he is. Yet we worry in the face of God. Yet we go astray even in God's presence. Why? He simply isn't real to us enough to counter those things.

Why don't you pray like you should? Most likely it is because the activities that keep you from praying are more important or more real to you then the effectiveness of prayer. After all you can see the results of working long hours or working toward the completion of a particular project. You could look and tell everyone, "Look here. This is what my efforts produced." However, with God it isn't so simple. Can we honestly say that all of the time about prayer for example. Sometimes we pray for things and circumstances still go awry.

We tend to relate more to physical things then spiritual things since we live in a physical world. The things that are physical or intellectually grasped are considered more real than the spiritual entities, even God. Why isn't God more real? Why don't we respond to spiritual things as we do earthly things? I can't answer that completely. However, I would like to present some insight into this topic with the hopes that the reality of God will overcome you and you will more freely walk in the Spirit of God and fellowship with God as you would with any other person (in principle). I pray that your awareness of God would be edified as you consider the reality of God and of His love.

The Bible begins with, "In the Beginning God." Who is this God? There are many that question even the existence of God (this is beyond the scope of this lesson) and there are those that believe He exists but have no idea of who He is. So who is God? You can't see Him, hear Him, or touch Him. So how can we say that this God is real? The Bible gives us many titles or names for God, such as Jehovah Jireh ("Yahweh will Provide"-see Genesis 22:14). However who is He? Let me ask you this question. What if I ask you, "who is William Clinton?" You might say that he is (or was) the president of the United States and then proceed to provide all of the information that you know about him. Is this telling me who William Clinton is though? I don't think so. What you have done is to provide information or "facts" about William Clinton and you have not told me who he is. The only way to be able to truly answer that question is to have a personal relationship with William Clinton. Then you can comment on the man, William Clinton. You can then honestly say that you know him and therefore who he is.

The same holds true for God. The only way that you are going to know who God is, is by spending time with Him. Now in order to relate to God you must believe he exists and that he is Spirit as opposed to being physical, which we already consider to be reality. Consider the following scriptures.

Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV) But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

John 4:24 (NKJV) 24God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

Now a detailed discussion on "who is God" is beyond the scope of this lesson. See my study, "Who is God" for more information. The point that I want to make is that God is Spirit, and He is real. What we need to do is believe that and relate to God as we would anything else we consider real. Considering God as real in everyday life is crucial, in my opinion, in doing things His way and in him manifesting himself in your life. A child knows the reality of his or her parents and therefore will think about doing things against the parent's will if indeed doing so would result in a negative consequence. The converse is also true for a positive consequence. For example, the reality of the support and approval of your parents may prompt you to do right. The punishment or reward in what ever form it may be, is real to the child even though mom and dad are not present at the scene of the potential crime. Why is it we don't think or act the same way about God? Perhaps we do since even a child will try to sin in the face of his or her parents. In any case, God has given us his will and yet we still disobey sometimes. God must be real in order to obey him and live his way. Therefore, we have to know God if we are going to live his way since his way involves a lifestyle and not merely rules and regulations. Do you know God or do you know about God?

It is fortunate for us that God answered the question of who he is. That is, God has told us who he is. All that we need do is to look at Jesus Christ because Christ is the very image of God. Consider the following scripture.

Hebrews 1:3 (NKJV)" who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,"

See also,

John 14:9 through John 14:10 (NKJV) Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.

These and other scriptures reveal the fact that Jesus is the revelation of God to us. If we know Christ then we know God. If we know who Christ is then we know who God is. Therefore, if you want to know who God is then all you have to do is learn Christ and get to know Christ. The Christian faith is more than facts. It is about relationships and foremost our relationship with God. So know Christ, who was real since he was an actual historical figure, and you will know God. WHO IS GOD? SEE JESUS CHRIST!

OK. So we can see who God is by looking and getting to know Jesus Christ. However, what about your personal relationship with God and the way you perceive him. It is very easy for us, once we know who he is, to perceive him as "the man upstairs" or the "great guy in the sky." What if you and I were best friends and you know that I would do absolutely anything for you. Now suppose I was a millionaire and we were still the best of friends. Would you worry about anything? Probably not, because you know that my resources are totally at your disposal. That is the kind of relationship we have. You wouldn't try to cheat me because we have a genuine friendship. However, you know that if you were in trouble financially that you could come to me for help and I would give you whatever you needed because we are the best of friends.

Now consider God. The Bible says that God created the heavens and the earth.

The Bible also tells us that everything belongs to God.

Psalm 24:1 (NKJV) The earth is the LORD'S, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein.

God is more than a millionaire. He owns everything! All of the resources on this earth belong to him. All of the wealth on this earth comes from him. Wealth is subjective in most cases though. What one culture may consider wealthy another may not.

Now consider this. The Bible says that God loves us in addition to owning everything in the Universe! Consider the following scriptures.

Now let's put these two concepts together. First God is almighty in that he has complete authority and control over all of creation. He owns everything that exists. God owns everything in this world. Now God also loves us and cares for us. He loves us so much that even while we were still ungodly (sinners) he sent Jesus to suffer and die for us. He demonstrated his love for us by sacrificing his only begotten son.

Oh how different things would be if we really perceived God with the above revelation in mind. We wouldn't worry about a thing just as if our best friend were a millionaire. God is more than a millionaire. He is the creator of everything that exists. Yet we still allow things to affect us in negative and counterproductive ways. Why? We haven't experienced him in our lives and therefore we have not learned to trust him, which is directly proportionate to the reality of God.

Now next week we will continue with a discussion on experiencing God as it relates to trust and obedience.  Stop by next week and join in the lesson.

Go to Part 2 >>