A high view of God
According to A.W. Tozer, the most important thing about you is what comes to mind when you think about God. ...the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like...
Were we able to extract from any man a complete answer to the question, "What comes to your mind when you think about God?" We might predict with certainty the spiritual future of that man.
How you think about God will determine who you become. You aren't just the byproduct of "nature" and "nurture". You are a byproduct of your God-picture. And that internal picture of God determines how you see everything else.
Most of your problems are not circumstantial. Most of our problems are perceptual. Our biggest problems can be traced back to an inadequate understanding of who God is. Our problems seem really big because our God seems really small. In fact, we reduce God to the size of our biggest problem. Tozer said a "low view of God...is the cause of a hundred lesser evils." But a person with a high view of God "is relieved of ten thousand temporal problems."
A low view of God and a high view of God are the difference between scaredy-cats and lion chasers. Scaredy-cats are filled with fear because their God is so small. Lion chasers know that their best thought about God on their best day falls infinitely short of how great God really is.
"My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways," declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher that the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8
from Mark Batterson: You know what the greatest tragedy in life is? It is someone whose god gets smaller and smaller with each passing day.
Maybe it's time to stop creating God in your image and let Him create you in His.
Something to think about...
Our last beach trip was the perfect day. This is the time of year I like going to the beach, it wasn't crowded, there was a cool breeze blowing, and the water wasn't too cold. Beautiful!