What Is God Like?

Tom Barnard

 

“But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us:

love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

(Galatians 5:22 NLT)

 

“It is most important to our spiritual welfare that we hold in our minds always a right conception of God. If we think of Him as cold and exacting, we shall find it impossible to love Him, and our lives will be ridden with servile fear. If, again, we hold Him to be kind and understanding, our whole inner life will mirror that idea. The truth is that God is the most winsome of all beings and His service one of unspeakable pleasure.” (A.W. Tozer, “God is Easy to Live With,” in The Root of the Righteous)

 

Have you ever asked yourself the question, “What is God really like?” Indirectly, the Apostle Paul answers the question in his letter to the Galatian Christians. He tells us that if the Spirit of God lives within us, he will produce fruit. Not fruits (plural), but fruit (singular). He lists nine qualities of one fruit—the fruit of the Spirit of God. This is not a cafeteria list. Not, “Here are nine fruits; take your pick.” If God is living in you, and if you are living in God, the byproduct of that relationship will be seen in a quality of life that cannot be duplicated in the secular world. You will be more loving, joyful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled than you could ever be apart from God. Therefore, if this is what the Spirit-filled life is like, it must follow that God is like that as well. Set aside the concept of God that says he is an angry god who is stern and austere in his dealings with his children. He is kind and loving. And He wants us to look at him in exactly that way.

 

Heavenly Father, forgive me for harboring an unworthy conception of you. I know you are a just God and that judgment will be meted out to those who disregard your commandments. But I also know that you are a loving and forgiving God. I am wrong when I blame you when things in my life are tangled and deformed. I have learned that you are easy to live with. Thank you for paying the price to save me from myself and from my sins, and thank you for wanting to create in me a level of fellowship that is beyond description. I celebrate that truth today. Amen.