Your God is Too Small

"Christ stated emphatically that it was quite impossible in the nature of things for a man to be at peace with God and at variance with his neighbor. This disquieting fact is often hushed up, but it is undeniable that Christ said it, and the truth of it is enshrined (or should we say more properly embalmed) in the petition for forgiveness in the all-too-familiar "Lord's prayer."

-J.B. Phillips, Your God is Too Small

I've been reading this tiny book for nearly two months now. Over the next several weeks (or more) I will be taking this tiny book bit-by-bit, and giving my thoughts on it. It is a tiny book, but it is perhaps one of the hardest-to-read, thought-provoking, faith-testing books I have ever read. I will be using this book as a guide to look at how God is often shown and thought of in the world (religious and secular), what is wrong with those views, and better ways of seeing things. This will not be easy to read nor write and I do not expect it to be, but that does not make it any less important (indeed, it may make it all the more so). If you would bear with me in this, and take it seriously with me, I will write honestly, openly, and in love. My goal is not to accuse, but to open the eyes of both myself and others. My goal is to put something out there that pulls us out of our "comfortable" image of God in favor of something bigger, scarier, and more comforting than we knew before.

As for the quote at the top, it was given because it is truly the point Christ made. This is the purpose of life; to love God with all that they have, and to love their fellow humans with the same God-given, natural love that they have for themselves. Our love is to God first, and along with that we are to love (and show love to) those around us. This is not a suggestion, not an "if it's easy" (it's not). It is a command. It is a no-matter-what, down-in-the-pits, messy, brutal, and unconditional love. This is the love Christ shows us, and the kind of love we are to imitate not matter what happens or who is doing it to us. I hope these posts point us to that kind of love and help us to show it more deeply and more truly than we could otherwise do. Our God is truly not too small. But if we do not challenge ourselves to see His fullness and entirety, we are in danger of making Him that way in our own minds. So join me! Let us seek and experience the full, enormous, infinite God of All Things.