15-5

The Otherness of God

God is not like anyone or anything else in the universe. He is matchless, unique, and nothing or no one even comes close. It can become easy for us to lose sight of this today. Even in our churches we do roughly the same thing every week (give or take a few songs). We can easily lose sight of Who we are here for. We can take an extraordinary God and manage to make Him sound completely ordinary! That must be really frustrating for God! God defends His awesomeness throughout the scripture. He will "not be diluted, dumbed down or patronized. He rebukes worshippers in Psalm 50: 'You thought I was altogether like you.' But He is not like one of us. He is utterly incomparable-beyond the furthest horizon of our imaginations."

Sometimes our view of God vs the reality of God can be like a goldfish in a bowl vs the creatures of the deep. A goldfish can swim around and say hi to Scuba Steve before it whacks its face on the side of the bowl (again). A wild fish in the deep is untamed, mesmerizing in beauty. Sometimes we portray God as domesticated, but He is far from that! We will never be able to fully declare how awesome our God is, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try!

When it comes down to it, God knows that He is awesome. He doesn't need you or me to tell Him. What do we have to offer God anyway? "We cannot even offer a simple song of praise without using the breath God first gave to us." Talk about dependence. God does not depend on us, we are totally dependent on God. That being said, "one of the biggest mistakes a person can make in life is to think that God owes him or her something. It destroys faith and insults the sovereignty of God." God doesn't owe us anything, we owe Him everything. But the beauty of our relationship with God is that even though He doesn't need our worship, He loves it! He loves it so much that He paid the ultimate price for it, He gave up His Son's life so that we could be in His presence to worship Him! Is it arrogant for God to love worship? J.I. Packer puts it this way: "If it is right for man to have the glory of God as his goal, can it be wrong for God to have the same goal? If man can have no higher purpose than God's glory, how can God? The reason it cannot be right for man to live for himself, as if he were God, is because he is not God. However, it cannot be wrong for God to seek His own glory, simply because He is God." Did you catch that? Basically we have the same goal God does, to give God glory! It isn't arrogant for the greatest ever to be acknowledged as the greatest ever. He isn't like a boxer who will eventually get old and have someone else take His place. No, "He will never give up His title or yield His supremacy. He is untouchable, invincible and eternally glorious."

We need to step up our reverence for God. It needs to find its way into the tiniest details of our lives. How are you showing reverence for God in your life? How can you show more? He deserves it. He expects it.

Enjoy the Journey