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Have you ever wondered what God looks like? If He exposed Himself to you today, what form do you think He would come to you in? If He was walking down the street, do you think you would recognize that it was Him? Or what if it was Jesus? What does your vision of Jesus look like? Is it the middle aged, well toned, blonde haired white man that is shown in paintings baptizing John? Or is He the average looking middle eastern man, than scholars say He is?
I remember when I was a kid, my parents were given this white sheet of paper that had various black shapes grouped together that looked like a deformed portrait of Jesus' face (if you used your imagination). My parents were told that if you focused on the center of this picture for about 30 seconds without blinking, then look up at a bright light, a perfect picture of Jesus will form behind your eyelids. They decided to wait till after dinner to try this out one night, and sure enough, there was Jesus kicking it right there behind my eyelids. I thought it was weird at the time and even tho I've seen that same picture that showed up a million times before in different places, I still wondered, 'What does the real Jesus,' or "What does the real God look like?'
The truth is, we'll never know. Trying to figure out what They look like is a waste of time and essentially doesn't matter. Controversy envelops the topic whether or not Jesus is a white man or a middle eastern man or even a black man. Some people even portray God as a woman.
First off, God never claims to be any gender. The fact that most, including me, refer to Him as male, seems to be just a tag that we use to refrain from calling the being that created all things an 'It'. Leave it to us humans to be the ones to care about something like that. Both genders, male and female, are derived from God's nature. The only thing that allows us to slap a gender on God is our religious conditioning. We were taught (by human minds) that He is male, thus it not only becomes natural, but common knowledge as well. I think that when God is revealed to people, He knows not to do so as a very large grandfather type figure with a flowing white beard, because it would simply fuel our religious stereotypes and that becomes an oxymoron in itself. To think that God is predictable is a sure sign of lack of knowledge.
Being Unloved
Unfortunately, there are many people who suffer from depression. Depression occurs when a person receives a lack of something that they feel is needed to fill a void. Instead of turning to the one Being that created us who obviously LOVES us, we turn to other things like sex, drugs, and alcohol. All of which have the ability to stimulate your mind and body for a given period, but ultimately fail at the act of saving you.
Consider this; most birds were created to fly. When they are grounded, it becomes a limitation within their ability to fly, not the other way around. Relating this back to us, people were created to be loved. So for anyone to live as if they are unloved becomes a limitation, not the other way around. In essence, living unloved is like clipping a bird's wings and removing its ability to fly. This is not something that God wants for us. When thinking about it like that, turning to something other than God not only seems wrong, but it seems out right ridiculous.
The problem that we have is that we usually have a lack of understanding of what God is. Some view God as evil rather than kind. Most people try to grasp some sense of who God is by the taking the best version of themselves, multiplying that by some level, factoring all the goodness they can perceive (which often isn't much) and then have the nerve to call that God. Not to knock those people, it seems like a pretty decent effort, right? But the truth is that it falls pitifully short of who God really is. God is not merely the best version of me, or you, or anyone else that you can think of. God is far more than that, above and beyond all that anyone can ask or think.
God's Nature
In the Bible, God seems to have many different sides. The God that created and loved the first man in the most perfect environment is the same God that destroyed an undeserving people with a flood, all except one family. The same God that asked for burnt sacrifices. The same God that took sides in battle and struck down many people so the favored people could take that land. The same God that favored a man named David that committed nearly every sin that could have possibly been committed. The same God that allowed Satan to test one of his most faithful followers, Job. The same God that allowed the Chosen Son, Jesus, to be the ultimate sacrifice for all sin in order to save a world of people the wreaked with selfishness, adultery, greed, envy, and lust. The beautiful thing of it all is that it was all done out of Love. God is Love.
By nature, God is completely unlimited, without bounds or barriers and has always known fullness. God lives in a state of perpetual satisfaction as His normal state of existence. Remember, humans are defined not by their limitations, but by the intentions that God has for us, not by what we seem to be, but by everything it means to be created in God's image.
Relationships
Relationships are the the interactions between people that make the world what it is today. We learn about relationships from the time we are able to comprehend any kind of meaning and from then on, for the rest of our lives. There are relationships between husband and wife, parents and children, people and animals. Relationships in the work force and in sports. Relationships are everywhere. However, the most misunderstood aspect of relationships is that people have become accustomed to the establishment of power. Relationships are NEVER about power, and one way to avoid the will to hold power over another is to choose to limit oneself to serve.
In all relationships, even with God, TRUST is the fruit of the relationship in which you know you are loved. People have a hard time with trust because we are imperfect beings. We make mistakes and we choose to do things that will cause feelings of hurt and pain to others. Unfortunately, this also affects the relationship that we allow ourselves to have with God. If you want someone to trust, trust in God who is a very perfect being. A being that is just and righteous in all that He does. However, if you don't know that God loves you, then it is impossible for you to trust in Him. The difference between God and people is that He does not waver. As long as one holds up their end of the relationship, it will continue to last. The best part about that is God doesn't expect you to be perfect. He knows that you won't be, so don't even fool yourself. It's the pursuit that He wants. It's not about being perfect, but it is the constant repentance and the constant thrive for living like Christ.
Good vs Evil
By being human, we have a great capacity for declaring something good or evil, without truly knowing. On a basic level, the world is full of poisonous plants. If a person gets infected by a poisonous plant, then it becomes something that is seen as evil. What we tend to look past is that the same plant, when mixed with something else could possibly turn into a remedy for healing or could contain properties necessary for some of the most amazing wonders. Plants aren't the only thing we are quick to judge, but also, other humans fall in that category, the clothes people wear, the things they possess, the way someone acts, the way someone looks. All of that (and more) are what people judge and they subconsciously label them good or bad.
Our view of good and evil got separated from God's view of it as soon as the first man sinned back in the Garden. Since then, the independence that we declared, with that one action, has created this natural distance from God that we are all born into. We feel comfortable in that independence and in it, we tend to lash out judgment on everything we possibly can. In doing that it allows us to play God, thus pushing us further and further from Him. We are so enveloped in our independence that we don't think we need God to create our list of good and evil, because clearly we know best (sarcasm). But we don't realize that we DO need God if we have any desire to stop such an intense lust for independence.
We must give up our right to decide what is good and evil on our own terms. And I say 'our right', because we surely do have the right to have our own decisions. But it is in our own decisions that we fail and are continually unhappy. Choosing to live only in God isn't an easy thing to do, but it is the right way and a much more satisfying way. In order to do it, we have to know Him enough to trust Him and learn to rest in His inherent goodness.
Evil is a word we use to describe the absence of good, just as we use the word darkness to describe the absence of light or death to describe the absence of life. Both evil and darkness can be understood only in relation to light and good, they do not have any actual existence of their own. God is light and God is good. He is love and there is NO darkness in Him. Light and Good actually exist, so removing ourselves from Him will plunge us into darkness. Declaring independence will result in evil because apart from Him, we can draw only upon ourselves. This is death because we have separated ourselves from Him, which is Life.
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