Finally posting the 2nd part of THIS post….
Thanks so much for your comments! Lovey, you make an excellent point. I think other people can have a HUGE affect on how we view God. Here are some of the reasons I came up with:
Why do we have these misconceptions about God?
1. Sometimes we humanize God. We expect him to act the way we would in a situation. We need to remember that God’s ways are different then our ways. His love is revolutionary!
Ephesians 3:18 – “And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his live is. May you experience the love of Christ through it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”
God’s love for us is so much bigger then we can fully comprehend!
2.Sometimes it’s easier to believe that God is going to give us we we think we deserve. Grace can be hard to accept.
When I lived in California, I use to drive a silver Volvo. It had over a 100,000 miles on it, and one day it started making a strange noise. I knew I needed a new car, but I also knew that I didn’t have the money to buy one. I really didn’t know what I was going to do. I asked for prayer about my car dilemma during my small group meeting one Sunday night. One of my group members told me about another lady in our church who had just purchased a new car. It seems she was looking to sell her old car at a good price. She suggested I call her to check it out. Even though I really had no money to buy a car, something told me to just call her. When I did she shocked me when she told me that her plan was to give away her old car to the first person who called to ask about it. That person was me, and before I knew it I was driving around in my new FREE car!
Ephesians 2:8-9 - “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast boast about it.”
Me getting that car reminds me of God’s grace. I didn’t do anything to deserve it. That car was a gift that I didn’t earn. Grace can be hard to accept, because there’s a part of us that feels like we need to do something to deserve it. Which brings me to my next point…
3. It’s hard to wrap our heads around the fact that we don’t need to work for God’s affection. It’s a gift that we just need to accept. That means we can’t boast about it, but that also means that we don’t have to worry about working to try and earn it.
I think if we realized the depth of the LOVE God has for us, it would change the way we live our lives…
Psalm 139:17-18 - “How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!”
