How big is your God?

A God small enough for our understanding is not large enough for our needs

For some people God remains, He was for primitive man -- a jealous, capricious, vengeful power, instead of being a Ruler who demands justice and righteousness. There are those who still cling to the provincial concept of God as a nationalistic, or local, tribal deity, instead of regarding God as the one and only governor of the universe.

A mature concept of God is when we view Him as one who gives and demands love from His people, as a [loving] father does from his children. God remains the same, unchanged through all the ages; it is only our concept of God that changes.

It makes a big difference in our behavior how we think of God. The person whose God is too small will be inadequate for the demands of life. A God that is small enough for our understanding is not large enough for our needs. By searching we may never find out all about God, but it is possible and desirable for us to keep growing in our knowledge and love of God and to worship a God that is big enough for all exigencies.

Selah.

Paul S. McElroy, Quiet Thoughts, Peter Pauper Press: Mount Vernon, 1964.