AW Tozer said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”
It has been said that a high view of God leads to a high and holy lifestyle. On the other hand a low view of God leads to low living. Right thinking about God leads to right living. Much of what ails the modern church is faulty thinking about God. For there to be a reformation within the church there must first be a reformation of how we view God.
To begin to change our thoughts about God, and our wonder of Him, then we must think rightly of who He is. When you want to get to know someone you want to learn about his or her characteristics. Your relationship deepens and matures, as you know more about each other. For our relationship with God to deepen we must attempt to know Him. Fortunately, God has revealed Himself through the Scriptures. God has shared attributes and characteristics about Himself that we might grow in our knowledge of Him.
Attributes are the qualities that belong to a person. It’s what we attribute to one’s person. Attributes are the characteristics of a person. By studying the attributes of God we get a better understanding of who He is. Such a study inevitably draws us closer to God. Job wrote, “Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace: Thereby God shall come unto thee” (Job 22:21). We are to acquaint ourselves with the Living God.
The heavens declare the glory of God, and God has revealed Himself by general revelation through creation (Psa. 19:1; Rom. 1:19-20). But it is Scripture that gives us the ability to study God and who He is.
Now, we are not taking God into a laboratory to put Him under a microscope. And it should be noted that this type of study is quite the dichotomy. Can the finite study the infinite? Can we comprehend the incomprehensible? God is not like anything, or anyone. God is infinite, and His thoughts and ways are higher than ours (Isa. 55:8-9). Humanity does not have the words or language to perfectly describe what God is like. We can say honestly, “Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders” (Ex. 15:11)? The writers of Scripture had to use language, images, figures of speech, and metaphors in attempt to describe God. Making an attempt to study God may seem futile. However, God beckons us to draw close to Him, and He will draw close to us (James 4:8).
Christians need more than a theoretical knowledge of God. We need to know God within the depths of our hearts and souls. By learning more about God, and understanding who God is, Christians become better equipped to learn about themselves. By doing so they have a clearer, and more biblical worldview. To have a greater understanding of God is profitable for Christian living. It goes back to Tozer’s statement that a high view of God leads to high living. If we are wrong about who God is then we will be wrong about everything else. If we are to live godly then we must know what God is like.
A study of God’s attributes and person should provoke us to worship. How can we worship that which we do not know? Weak worship in the church is a direct result of not knowing much about God. A greater knowledge about God will lead to greater worship of God. The church doesn’t need better music or better songs. The church needs a greater depth of knowing God.
It is my intent to write a series of posts concerning the attributes of God. Together we will study the attributes of God that are not shared with humanity, namely God’s omniscience, immutability, power, omnipresence and so forth. And we will study the attributes of God that He empowers us to share with Him namely love, wisdom, goodness, and holiness.
It is my prayer and hope that we can grow in our knowledge, worship and love of God.