All throughout this summer we are studying the attributes of God. When you love someone, you want to know them more. How seriously do we mean it when we say we love God? As we seek to know the attributes of God that He has revealed to us, we will not only know Him better but we cannot help but be overwhelmed with love for God. The vital truth for us all to know before we start is that whatever enters our mind when we think of God is the most important thing about us. Our spiritual wellbeing, our worship and our service will only be as high or as low as our thoughts are of God. It's important that I make this clear. Our respect, honour and reverence for God is the foundation upon which our spiritual lives either thrive or are choked. This truth is affirmed in the Scriptures.

The most confronting truth about any believer is that their spiritual health is not dependant upon what they say or do but what they in the deep recesses of their heart conceive God to be like. I know I've mentioned in a lot of previous devotions that the way we think determines the way we act. Here we are getting right to the very epicentre of that point. Our perception of God will effect every aspect of our lives.

Without question the mightiest thought that our mind can entertain is the thought of God. Thought and speech are God's gift to the creatures that He made in His image. Both speech and thought are impossible if it were not for the creative power of God. A significant fact is that the first word was "The Word", Jesus Christ. Here's how John puts it in the beginning of his gospel.

Remember how it was that God created things? He spoke them into being. We speak because God speaks and we were created in His image. Thought and speech are inseparable from God.

What we know of God may also greatly differ from what we think about God. Someone who has been through theological college and has been a pastor for twenty years may know more about God than someone who has been a believer for five years, but it is possible that the younger believer may have a stronger deep-rooted understanding of the character of God. It's also possible that some of you might be here every week of summer roundups and will hear the full series on knowing God, but unless you plant these deep truths of the nature of God in your heart then you will just finish summer with increased facts. It is my desire in preparing and presenting this series that each of you will allow the nature and character of God to take deep root in your heart and mind so that your lives will be greatly enriched by building a foundation of a God centred life that will stand throughout all the circumstances for the rest of your lives.

A right conception of God is not only important to understanding the Bible but is essential to Christian living and ethics. An accurate view of God is like the foundation of a building. If the foundation of the building is shaky then the whole building is weakened and unstable. It would probably be correct to say that almost all false teaching and failure to apply Christian ethics is generally the result of an inaccurate view of God.

I like what A.W. Tozer had to say about this in his book "The Knowledge Of The Holy". He writes, "The man who comes to a right belief about God is relieved of ten thousand temporal problems". I'll show a couple of examples from Scripture.

Firstly think about Cain and Abel bringing their offerings to God. Cain worked with crops and Abel with sheep. Both of these were respectable positions. When it came time to bring their offerings to God, Cain brought fruit of the ground while Abel brought the fatted firstborn of the flock. Abels offering was accepted while Cain's was rejected. Abel offered the very best of what he had while Cain just brought any old fruit he managed to find. Cain had a very wrong view of God. Not only did he not perceive God to be worthy of his very best but he also denied the omniscience (all knowing) of God to think that God wouldn't realise that Cain had anything better to offer. This can be found in Genesis 4 if you're looking for it.

Romans 5:19-6:3 (NIV)

For a second example you could look at the sixth chapter of Romans. Paul is writing to a group of believers who have a wrong perception of the character of God. They understand the grace of God to forgive them of their sin but they've taken it too far as to believe that they should sin more in order to receive more grace. These people have accurately understood that because of God's grace He can forgive them of their sins but they've failed to understand God's righteous hatred against sin.

In these two examples we can see how an inaccurate view of God can cause some great troubles. A right view of God is important! All of us here on staff have at some point reached a good view of who God is. We've all reached a point where we've realised that as our Creator, God deserves our worship and that we have been for years rebelling against Him. It hits hard when we first come to understand who we are in the sight of a Holy God. It's a guilt and burden that is too heavy to bear.

The gospel however has the power to remove this burden. As the old chorus said "He gave me beauty for ashes and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness". But until someone can get a proper high view of God and a low opinion of themselves, the gospel is a message without impact on them.

Idolatry is a sin that places great rejection upon God. When we think of idolatry we think of people bowing to statues and things like that but many are guilty of all forms of idolatry. This can vary from manipulating the nature of God into a description that better suits your needs down to any other interest that has a higher place in your life. In the first example it could be said that a man who "customises" God to suit his own needs hasn't got an altered view of God. He has created his own new God. Anything that is not 100% God is not God. You can see this happening in Galatians 1:6-7 and Romans 1:21

As we approach these devotions over summer, keep in mind that our view of God shapes every area of our life either positively or negatively. It has been said that we're living in an era when the churches are thriving externally but are dying internally as the desire to seek and teach the nature of God has lost it's place. The result is a view of God much lower than is worthy.

The gospel of John tells us that eternal life is to know God.

Have you ever seen your mum get upset when Dad asks her what to buy her for her birthday or wedding anniversary? After years of marriage, mum expects that Dad will love her enough to have sought to know what she likes and what pleases her. In our relationship with God, do we really seek to know Him so we can live lives pleasing to Him or is it like a high school relationship where you thought that what he could offer you sounded good so you leapt at the relationship? Salvation is when you've realised you've been living for yourself rather than for God the way He intended. As a new creation in Christ, we are not our own nor should we seek to please our own. Do you want your relationship to grow with Christ? Get to know what God is like. Unlike a human partner you won't find bits that are hard to love but instead you'll be driven stronger in love and service as you know Him better.