When my wife and I married in 1992 our Honeymoon destination was a brand new hotel on the island of Maui called the Kei Lani (White Heavens). It was pristine! We had reserved a room with an ocean view. When we arrived at our hotel room we were disappointed to discover we were looking at the swimming pool, not the ocean. I immediately went to the front desk and complained about the view and they upgraded us to a room with a full view of the ocean. I’m so glad we didn’t settle!
Many believers today are settling for a downgraded view of God when our view of God, who we believe God to be, is the single most important factor in our lives.
AW Tozer in his classic book The Knowledge of the Holy said, “The Church has surrendered her once lofty concept of God and has substituted for it one so low, so ignoble, as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshipping men. This she has done not deliberately, but little by little and without her knowledge; and her very unawareness only makes her situation all the more tragic.”
It’s hard to believe Tozer wrote that in 1961 when it speaks to the church so pointedly today. The Church above anything else today has a great responsibility to GET GOD RIGHT in a world that’s getting God wrong!
What do I mean by Get God Right? If our conceptions about who God is are wrong, it will lead us to wrong thinking, wrong decisions, and wrongdoing. If we are wrong about God, we will be wrong about everything else. The opposite then is true. If we get God right it will lead us to right thinking, right decisions, doing right and living right.
So How Can We Get God Right? We have to exchange our low view of God for a high view of God. A low view of God is a result of losing the correct concept and the sense of the majesty of God. The majesty of God is defined as the greatness, the splendor and character of God. When we lose sight of God’s majesty it’s really easy for us to fall into idolatry. When we lose sight of the majesty of God, we begin to mold God into our image instead of our lives being conformed to His image.
Exchanging my low view of God for a higher view of God begins by refusing to be entertained on Sundays and insisting on encountering God. I’m guilty of this, but we all say things like the following a Sunday service:
“That was a good service.” “That word was on fire.” “That was great worship.” “That was a fantastic message.” “My children really enjoyed Kid’s Church.”
These are all good things that are important to having a healthy church, but if we are going to ascend to a higher view of God as a church we can’t be satisfied with people being amused by church they must leave amazed by God.
The Church was never designed for you and I to be amused, it was designed for you and I to be amazed. Jesus’ ministry was marked by amazement.
“And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, ‘We never saw anything like this!’” — Mark 2:12
Amazement always lifts your view of God higher and points to how good He is. Amusement always points to how good man is. When we are amazed with God and not amused by man it will cause us to GET GOD RIGHT.