HAVE THE RIGHT PERCEPTION OF GOD;
“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent”(John 17:3).
Your perception or revelation of God will determine the way you relate with Him and the kind of life you’ll live. Many have their perception of God tainted by religion, rather than the truth the scriptures reveal to us about Him. I once visited a certain church and noticed a board on which some kids had attempted to answer the question “Who is God?” The question had been posed by their Sunday school teacher; and one of the kids, in his answer, wrote, “God is a terminator; He can destroy anything and anyone He wants to.”
How unfortunate! That young mind already had the wrong opinion of God, from the impression given him by the older generation. Through the years, men have misrepresented God, and this has affected their relationship with Him, and denied them the experience of wholesome fellowship with Him.
Some even think God took time to select certain people for wealth and some for poverty; some for sickness and others for good health. They believe whatever happens in their lives, good or bad is the will of God. They’ve misunderstood the nature of God, and perceived Him wrongly.
God is good and only does good things: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17). Let this be your perception of Him. The Bible lets us know that He is love. His ultimate display of love was to save you while you were still a sinner (Romans 5:8). It was His deliberate choice to save you and He did it because of His love nature. He chose to give you all of Himself and everything that belonged to Him because He loves you. This is the perception of Him that you ought to have.
Further Study:
2 Peter 1:2-3;
Philippians 3:10