My god is too small

Posted on February 1, 2014 Written by Mark McIntyre 4 Comments

My god is too small.

I do not have a theological problem. I have no trouble affirming the God of the Bible, especially as revealed in Jesus.

I do not struggle to assent to an infinite, all powerful God; this is not an intellectual problem.

My problem is a belief problem. What I truly believe is indicated by my actions and when I observe my behavior, I must confess that my god is too small.

My god is too small when:

I look to others to define who I am and how I am doing
I am overwhelmed by my circumstances
I feel that no-one understands me
I get bogged down in guilt
I let my failures define who I am

On the flip side, Scripture reveals the character of God and speaks to all of these issues. For example:

Psalm 139 tells me that I am fearfully and wonderfully made and that I am not a mistake. God determines who I am and how I am doing (Psalm 139:14).
Jesus promises to be with me (Matthew 28:20) and is in control of my circumstances.
Jesus is the Wonderful Counselor (Isaiah 9:6) and understands me
In Jesus I am under no condemnation (Romans 8:1)
Scripture presents every giant of the faith as having experienced failure. Their failures did not define them or keep them from being used by God.

If I truly believe these things, I will act upon them. When I am caught in the first list, it is evidence that I am not believing in the God of the Bible. At that point, the god in which I believe is too small.

Thankfully, I can echo the prayer recorded in Mark 9:24, “I believe; help my unbelief!” A prayer from which I have taken much comfort over the years.

About Mark McIntyre

A follower of Jesus Christ who shares observations about how Scripture should impact the church and the world. Mark is the original author and editor of Attempts at Honesty.

Between the hammer and the anvil

The iron goes into the fire to be heated and then is moved to the anvil to be hammered into the desire form. The process is repeated until the smith is satisfied with the result.

A Challenge from Os

I was challenged by this paragraph and thought I would share it: The faith-world of John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, John Jay, William Wilberforce, Hannah More, Lord Shaftsbury, Catherine Booth, Hudson Taylor, D. L. Moody, Charles Spurgeon, Oswald Chambers, Andrew Murray, Carl Henry, and John Stott is disapearing. In its place a new evangelicalism is arriving […]

Tozer: the truth about exposition –

I received an email containing the quote from A. W. Tozer and thought it worth sharing: Sound Bible exposition is an imperative must in the Church of the Living God. Without it no church can be a New Testament church in any strict meaning of that term. But exposition may be carried on in such […]

Martyn Lloyd-Jones on COVID-19?

I read this paragraph by Martyn Lloyd-Jones which was originally published in 1953. I couldn’t help but think that what Lloyd-Jones has written speaks to the current crisis caused by COVID-19. Let us not therefore be stumbled when we see surprising things happening in the world. Rather let us ask, ‘What is the relevance of […]

Social media and the need for validation

I read a where a social media guru recently said something to the effect of, “there are two types of people involved in social media, those who want more followers and those who are lying about it.” With the advent of social media, there is a danger in finding our validation in follower counts. Where should our validation come from?

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	31

My god is too small

Categories

Archives