Understanding God

Many people chaff under the phrase found in recovery literature “as we understood him [God]”. That’s unfortunate. Because it holds a profound truth that we may need to wrestle with. We may need to increase our understanding of God. We may need to let go of abusive, manipulative or harming notions of God that were given us at an early age.

I was shocked to realize that God was not a white man with a big white fluffy beard, because that was the picture of God that was framed and hanging in a Sunday School class I attended as a child with my grandparents.

I had to let that imagery go. I had to let go of the image of a God who demanded I be a helper without acknowledging my need for help.

I had to let that false teaching go. I had to replace the image of a distant, demanding God with the gentle and humble reality of Jesus. (Weird how so often we transpose an image of a real human being over the truth of who God is.)

Today, find some time to invite God to begin to reveal to you what you need to let go of, and maybe what you need to gain understanding about him. Breathe. Give him time to do his thing before you rush off to your day.