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Let God out of the box!

6/7/2016

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Photo Credit: Creativity103 via Compfight cc
Have you put God in a box? 

Sometimes without realizing it, we are keeping God in a box.  We can tend to focus on one (or maybe just a few) of the many characteristics of God.
  • If we primarily focus on His comfort, we can lose track of His awesome power.  We reduce Him to not much more than a favorite blanket.
  • If we primarily focus on His power, we never learn to turn to Him and find comfort in His loving arms. 
  • If we primarily focus on His peace, peace can become an idol, and we may never step out of our comfort zone (so as not to disrupt that peace).
  • If we primarily focus on His provision, we can find ourselves waiting for God to do something, when He is waiting for us to do something.
  • If we primarily focus on His justice, we can never truly understand the level of His profound love that offers mercy.
  • If we primarily focus on His mercy, we can begin taking it for granted and forget how much that mercy cost.
  • If we primarily focus on His grace, we can forget that truth is an integral part of grace - not mutually exclusive.
  • If we primarily focus on His truth, we can become performance-based, self- and other-condemning, never learning to truly receive or give love in the face of truth (grace).
The fact is that God is all of these things....and more!

On this we can rely, God is love (1 John 4:16)  and His love encompasses all of these qualities...and more.
 
  • His love is both powerful and comforting.  
  • It provides and brings peace; and yet it stretches us.
  • It is both merciful and just.  
  • It offers us grace-soaked truth.

He is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.
                                                                                                                             ~Rev.  22:13


How might you need to take God out of the box this week?  

As we move into this week, let's ask God to reveal more of Himself, so that we might connect with Him in a new way.

Because of Him, By Him, Through Him, In All of Him...
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    Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
             ~Jesus Christ

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Friendship Ministries Foundation | PO Box 55 | Devon, PA 19333 | (610) 430-6630