Let Us Make God In Our Image?

by Arlene Ghilardi

John 12:20-32

here has been a lot of talk lately about inconvenient truth.* The word inconvenient means that it doesn’t come easy. There is an implied responsibility that once the truth is heard it will be necessary to change to make one’s life line up with the revealed truth. Often the ensuing change is not easy and is inconvenient disrupting the present lifestyle. The tendency then is not to change oneself but to reinvent the “truth” through unbelief. Not only is the “truth” changed to be more palatable but also the Author of the “truth” is brought into question regarding His authority to speak to the subject.

We are religious enough not to outwardly challenge God. What the Church has done instead is wrestle the scriptures to create God in its own image. We subtly remake God to suit our needs so that minimal change will have to take place. I’m sure you have heard the statement, “A loving God wouldn’t do that. After all God is love.” Our definition of love could be self-defined. We pick our convenient aspect of God’s character and twist it to justify our own lustful lifestyle. We create for ourselves a god who serves us just the way we are. We choose to ignore the commands of the loving God in order to take advantage in the wrong way of the generosity of His loving nature. This is how the different schools of thought in Christendom are birthed. People tend to run away with an aspect of truth that conforms to where they are.

You could think THE truth of Jesus Christ (which is the only truth because He is the Truth) is always inconvenient to the agenda of man. When God’s word comes to us it is received in various ways. Hearts that are hungry for a personal relationship with Jesus will gladly receive His word as THE truth and engage in the process to have His truth worked out in their lives. This is how we buy the truth and sell it not. We pay whatever price in personal change that is necessary to make the truth a part of us. Our goal would be to walk in the truth continually so that Jesus would be represented correctly to this dying world. Hungry hearts bow before the Truth and conform to it through love and obedience. Let us not be those who only believe God’s word when it is convenient for us and it blesses us. Let us press in to receive the Lord in whatever way He will come to us.