This week we bring our second full season of Cor Deo to a close. The past few months have been a great experience for us all. The opportunity to pursue God together in His Word is an absolute privilege. The delight of sharing life together with a group of others passionate to know Him is hard to describe. This week we will be bringing closure to this intense season of our lives.
So we will be looking back on our chasing of God in His Word. We have been able to enjoy the grand sweep of the biblical vistas, as well as the rich treasure that is there to be found by those who look closely with eyes and hearts open to see.
So whether we are reflecting on our group overview of the Bible, or our personal read throughs, we have discovered much of God’s personality during these months. And when we think back on our times of close reading through John, Ephesians and Galatians, we have found God’s Word to be profoundly delightful as we zoomed in close.
Yesterday I was struck again as I listened through Joshua and into Judges that God is not some sort of generic deity. We worship a specific God. This is a God with personality, with values, with character. Ours is a God who is intensely relational, profoundly loyal, selflessly sacrificial.
I think all of us in Cor Deo this year have been struck again, or for the first time, that our God is profoundly personal. He is not a set of propositions, although the greatest truth statements will be about Him. We have seen that as we read the Bible, as we study it closely, as we converse with great figures of the past, as we wrestle with theology and the traditions of Christian spirituality . . . we have seen that God is absolutely wonderful.
So the simple question doesn’t strike us as strange: do we like God? I know a group of men who have bonded with each other as we have responded to a God that we find to be absolutely delightful. Thus the past few months have been just a launching into a lifelong journey of response to this good God.
But along the way we have seen in Scripture, as well as in history, some who seem to struggle with the notion of liking God. Everyone who says they are Christian knows that it is right to love God, but to be asked if they like God would cause real consternation for some. Appreciate? Sure. Thankful to/for? Of course. Love? We must. But like?
As persons we are all eminently skilled in determining whether we like those that we meet or not. We determine very quickly, sometimes before a word is spoken, what we feel about others. An hour of good information will always struggle to overcome 30 seconds of off-putting first impressions. There is barely a person we meet who doesn’t illicit some sort of subconscious affective response.
Yet many seem to struggle with the notion of liking God. For some, it may be that they have never met Him. What a privilege evangelism is for those who really like the God they represent. For others, it may be that God has always been portrayed as a set of truths, a list of propositions, a heavenly resume. Again, what a privilege to offer to others the God of the Bible, even in church settings.
There are so many lessons that we could and probably will be reflecting on during this last week of Cor Deo. But I’ll leave the post with this very simple thought. Do you like God? If there is much in the way of hesitation before answering, perhaps you haven’t really grasped the fact that He is personal, has personality and is not just a set of propositions. As we launch into life beyond Cor Deo 2012, would you join us in continuing to chase God, the God who pursued us first?
No comments yet.