The Bible teaches that God made man in His own image (Gen. 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”), but man seems intent on making God into man’s image. The modern man cares less about agreeing with God and conforming to His laws than he is about imposing his own standards that are more politically correct.
The Bible presents God as the one supreme being, Creator of heaven and earth,, and all therein. (Acts 17:23-29 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’[a] As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’[b] 29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.)
(Acts14:15 Friends, why are you doing this? We too are only human, like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them.).
He is the living God, with ears to hear and hands to help. This God is holy, almighty, all-wise, all-powerful, and ever present. See such scriptures as (Mark 12:29 The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.) (1 Peter 1:15 – 16 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: Be holy, because I am holy.)and 1 John 4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ) Further, God is “Judge of all,” but also the Savior of men who come to Him through Jesus Christ (Romans 2:16 This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares) and (Titus 3:4-6 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior). He is the one God of both the Old and New Testaments.
All of this being true, yet He is not the God everybody feels comfortable with. Some dislike His laws. Some do not want to answer to anyone for their deeds, even to the One who knows their hearts. To such, God and His standards are conceived to be out of date. Still others would prefer to serve a god tailor-made by denominational and cultic creeds and dogmas, rather than the one true God whose truths are set forth by inspired apostles and prophets in holy Scripture (1 Timothy 3:16-17).
Let’s cease trying to make God into our image. It just won’t work!
Ron Bartanen is minister of the Arthur Church of Christ in Arthur, IL.