6 Ways We Lower Our View of God

As Christians, nearly all of us have too low a view of God. Yes, we’ve probably all heard sermons on the holiness of God and agree. We’ve read Isaiah 6 where he sees a vision of the Lord sitting upon a throne and his response is “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips”. Moses, in Exodus 33, asks to see God’s glory, but God responds that “man cannot see me and live.” We also understand when Paul writes in Romans 14 that “every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue confess to God” when Christ returns in consummation. We all say we believe those things, and we do.

However, in our everyday conversations as we talk about God, or seek to share the Gospel message with someone else, we fall back to the false view that all gods and all religions are equal, or all paths lead to god. We put ourselves on equal footing as all others rather than honoring God and proclaiming his holiness.

Here are a few ways I have seen others and even myself lower my view of God:

1. Is God all-powerful or most-powerful?

A common persona in movies and video games is that of the superheroes, who are sometimes even referred to as gods. Their power, strength, speed, or other attributes are far above that of anyone else. No one can defeat them because of their super powers. They are clearly the most powerful. However, if they are not ALL powerful, then there is a possibility of finding a hidden weakness or working together to defeat them. It remains that, ‘most’ powerful is far below ‘all’ powerful. The same goes for the rest of God’s omni- attributes. He is sovereign over all. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

2. We refer to those whose skill or knowledge is far above others as gods.

We think the same thing when we hold up someone who is far above all others in their skills, such as sports figures. For example, Lance Armstrong in bicycling or Michael Phelps in Olympic swimming. All men eventually are defeated, even if not in their own lifetime. When we refer to these people as ‘gods’, we seek to elevate man but end up lowering god.

3. Narrowing the scope of their power or authority.

Consider the Greek gods; there are the gods of the earth, the seas, the sun, the weather and many other areas of life and our environment. They are claimed to have complete authority and rule of one particular domain. In the times of the Old Testament many of foreign nations believed they each had a god over their nation; one who watched over, protected them, and led them in battle. Considering these situations, there are relationships and dependencies between them, so their authority is limited. When Paul fled to Athens in Acts 17 and saw all their idols, he told them that the God of the Bible is the God “who made the world and everything in it.” There is nothing that is not under his control, he created it all. He upholds it all by the word of His power. Anything less is limited.

4. Many gods work together to rule all.

Our culture values teamwork and collaboration. It is good to seek experience, expertise, and wise counsel in this world, but we should not apply that to God. In Job 38, God responds to Job and his friends, “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?” God needs no wise counsel or shared wisdom for he knows all.

5. God is either created, or born into this world.

Some teach that their god was created, even created in a very special way. Some teach that god was born, even if through extraordinary events. Some are born, live, and die in endless cycles to explain the cycles we see in nature, such as seasons. Basic logic would tell us that whomever, or whatever, created this god is greater! Therefore, they cannot be god. Why not worship the creator, rather than the created? Genesis 1 and John 1 both teach that God is self-existing, he is eternal in his being; having no beginning and no end. John writes in Revelation 1 as the God “who is, who was, and is to come”.

Some misunderstand and think that Jesus was born, but John 1 teaches that He “became flesh”, not that He was born. Jesus, the Son of God, is the Word and the Word was with God and was God. He didn’t come into being at his birth, He existed long before. God tells Moses in Exodus 3 that “I am who I am”, and Jesus claimed “before Abraham, I am”, causing others to pick up stones to stone him for blaspheme. He wrapped himself in the flesh to become like one of us and to experience all the temptations that we endure, yet was without sin.

6. Godhood is something that can be attained or achieved.

If we can work hard and attain a level of God, or achieve godhood, this definition of god is far below the God defined in the Bible. If anyone can achieve it, or if there is a god in each one of us, god becomes a commodity that is either equal in all or differentiated only by what we do with it.

The Bible warns us to not think too highly of ourselves, the Pharisees emphasized the law and obedience and achievement. However, Paul writes in Galatians 3:21, “For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.” This is the Gospel message from Romans 5: “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!” Justice is fulfilled in the shedding of His blood, not by our obedience. This glorifies God, rather than man.

Conclusion:

We all tend to create our own idea of who God is. We like certain attributes, but not others. We dumb down God so he is more understandable to us. These things lower our view of God. When we see God for who He is and what He teaches about himself, we recognize that we serve a glorious God who is beyond our comprehension and set apart from all else. If you want to hold a high view of God in your thoughts and in conversation, stand firm in who He claims to be. Do not be deceived by the wisdom of this world and bring God down to our level. Declare his complete sovereignty, his glory, his faithfulness, his wisdom, and majesty. No one else is God, nothing else is high and lifted up like the God of the Bible. There are no other gods before Him.