What We Talk About When We Talk About God
“God is spirit” — Jesus of Nazareth
In the Christian faith, there is this pretty mind-boggling proposition about who God is. It says that God is three persons in one. God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The trinity.
The Bible doesn’t expressly state this, but there is this understanding. Now, don’t worry, because I don’t want to start a whole theological treatise on the doctrine of the trinity. I just lightly mention it to make the point that this notion about God is pretty out there, pretty different, pretty hard to understand. For anybody.
When we talk about God, I think there is on some level an underlying idea that who we are talking about is kind of just like us. So we might even try to put ourselves in God’s shoes or figure out why he would allow something to happen. But if the trinity is anything to go by, he really isn’t kind of just like us.
There is this part in the Bible that I have always really liked, it kind of puts me in my place when I am starting to feel entitled/worthy of recognition/puffed up etc.. It’s from the prophet Isaiah, maybe the greatest prophet in the Bible. God explains to Isaiah and the people of Israel just how different he is to them. He says: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
He is just different. His thoughts, his ways, everything. I mean, for one thing, he is spirit. For another, he is invisible. We just can’t relate. But we still try.
The funny thing is that what we really need in this life is actually what the Christian faith, the God that it introduces us to, actually provides. Humans need a God who is awesome and set apart and massive and can save us and do amazing things. A God who is a loving father and will never let us down. And we also need a God who can understand our emotions and relate because he has been there.
Jesus the Son grew up in a big family but was shunned by his brothers and sisters. He was often misunderstood. He knew manuel labour and worked a trade. He had some close friends who betrayed him. He was mistreated, abused, insulted and beaten. He went to a lot of parties. He knew the comfort of his own bed as well as having nowhere to sleep. He was on a real mission. He experienced fear, grief and sorrow.
When the Christian faith talks about God it talks about a God who is on completely different level set apart so we should recognise and even fear that. And it talks about a God who knows all about us, never stops loving us, relates to our trials and temptations and fiercely wants a relationship with us.
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