Learning who God is will make your life less confusing

Understanding who God is can help singles see our own lives more clearly. If we have an inaccurate picture of God, we will make wrong judgments about almost everything.

A lot of downright wrong information is being spread about God nowadays. Much of it comes from the New Age, but some Christians, even preachers, are guilty of lying about God.

Whether you realize it or not, you're taking in data constantly. It accumulates in your mind and if you don't examine it carefully, those so-called "facts" can lead you astray.

The most neglected source of information

All we need to know about our Creator is in the Bible. He freely reveals himself to us, and all we need to do is read it.

We don't read the Bible because we really don't want to know who God is. He's not our top priority. I'm not saying you should spend every second of your free time poring over Scripture, but don't make the excuse that God seems far away and mysterious to you and at the same time refuse to look in the Bible.

I will grant you this: the Bible can be tough reading, if you don't have a study Bible. My personal favorite is the Life Application Study Bible. The footnotes and articles in it open the Bible to the real world. As you apply the verses to your everyday life, you begin to get a true picture of who God is.

The difference between reading a regular Bible and a study Bible is like the difference between watching a movie on a tiny black and white TV or seeing it on a wraparound iMax screen in breathtaking color and sound.

Wrong ideas of who God is

If you read the Bible, you'll get a true, accurate picture of who God is, because the Bible is his Word, his personal love letter to you. New Agers don't want you to believe that, of course, because they want you to buy their mish-mash concoction of God from a dozen different sources, including men's imaginations.

• God is not the Earth. The earth is one of his creations. If you worship the Earth, you're worshipping a giant ball of dirt. That's idolatry. God is not the Sun, as many ancient cultures believed. God created the Sun so life can thrive on Earth, but it's just a ball of burning gas.

• God is not made up of rocks, trees, people, and animals. That's animism, an ancient belief that fails to separate the Creator from his creations. A rock is composed of minerals. It is nonliving. It doesn't have a soul. It's not part of God.

• God is not an impersonal energy, like electricity. God is not "The Force," as proposed by the Star Wars movies. Neither is he The Universe or Cosmic Consciousness or some vague term used in the book The Secret. And while we're talking about The Secret, God is not a vending machine. You don't put in the right affirmations and your goodies come out. Millions of people bought The Secret and believed every word of it. How many of them became millionaires?

• God is not our servant. Don't let "name-it-and-claim-it" preachers tell you otherwise. God is not obligated to fulfill our every desire because we follow their concocted prayer formula. The Bible does not teach that, and these shysters are twisting it if they say it does.

According to him, here's who God is:

Okay, now that we know who God isn't, then who is he? God isn't secretive about himself. He tells us exactly who he is in the Bible. Here are just a few of his truths about himself, from him, not me:

• He is a loving father. No matter what your relationship with your earthly father has been like, God is a father you can always count on for love, understanding, and acceptance. Jesus continually called God his father and commanded us to do so too. We never get too old for the love and guidance of this perfect father.

• He is always forgiving. We don't need to worry about committing the unforgivable sin, because our father is always eager to take us back. If you don't believe that, you need to re-read the parable of The Prodigal Son.

• He is all-powerful. The Bible tells us God created the universe and that all things are possible to him. That's good to remember when we're facing a hard problem and need God's help to get through it. He also has an eternal perspective, so he can see how things will turn out. Combine that omnipotence with love and you get a protector you can count on, no matter what.

• He has your best interests at heart.We don't understand the bad things that happen to us, or why God allows them, but we know that things will work out in the end. The end means that we will share eternal life and love with him in heaven. Our time on earth is but an eyeblink compared with eternity with God.

• Jesus Christ is God. Several times in the Bible, Jesus said he and the Father are one, anyone who has seen him has seen the Father, and that he is the Son of God. If you have trouble relating to a heavenly Father, study the life and words of Jesus in the Gospels. He willingly died to free you from your sins, so you can enjoy life with him in heaven.

Now what do you do with this?

How do you, as a single person, apply this to your life?

First, realize that God is always pursuing you. He wants you to know him better. He desires a closeness with you that is unlike any relationship you have with anyone else.

Second, as you explore this relationship, you will learn things about both yourself and God. He will reveal your true motivations to you and gently guide you toward holiness.

Third, this spiritual wisdom helps you put everything else into perspective. You begin to measure things by God's standards, not the world's, and not even your own. What used to seem important tends to fade back. You become more discerning. You see more clearly. You cut through the fog and get to the truth.

Those sound like far-fetched claims, but I've experienced them in my own life. It's all about God. It's not about us.

Find out for yourself. Go to the source, the Bible. It will show you the answer to the question of who God is.

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