If you want to know who the God of the universe is, there is much to know.
First, I’d like to preface this and say that we will never fully know God. If God was small enough for us to fully comprehend then he’d be as small as our brain, and I don’t know about you, but if God was that small I wouldn’t particularly want to serve or trust him.
If you go out in field at night and look at grand, beautiful star-lit sky, you’ll realize you can’t take it all in at once. You can only fit as much as your eyes can hold, but there’s so much more all around you, behind you, and even beyond the stars you’re looking at. Since God created the stars in the sky, he’s clearly bigger than that too. So, this is the perspective of God we are looking at. He’s even bigger than space, and we can’t even fully comprehend that, so how can we expect to fully comprehend him?
With all this to say, I’m not here to give a revelatory breakthrough that’s all theologically sound and will blow your mind about who God is. However, I am going to share with you characteristics he has. Just like you’d describe your best friend to someone new, I want to do the same with God for you.
In my life, I’ve met him as my Father. He’s loved me, provided for me, cared for me, etc. He’s lead me and listened to me. He’s given me advice. He’s protected me. He forgives me and always has good for me. He has made even the worst things in my life be use for my good. And this is all just surface level, if I was to go in to every example of how he’s done these things for me, I would literally be writing a 500 page novel!
Now let’s read 1 Corinthians 13:
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Next let’s go to 1 John 4:8 (NIV) : Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
God. is. love
God= love
Since God is love, anything love is, God also is. In 1 Corinthians 13 we see numerous adjectives and nouns that when combined all together define what love is. But now we can read it again, but instead of reading love, we can replace the word with God:
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have God, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have God, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have God, I gain nothing.
God is patient, God is kind. He does not envy, He does not boast, He is not proud. He does not dishonor others, He is not self-seeking, He is not easily angered, He keeps no record of wrongs. God does not delight in evil but He rejoices with the truth. He always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
God never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and God. But the greatest of these is God.
And these are just a few characteristics of who God is, but it’s a good place to start. He is patient and kind, always forgiving and forgetting your wrongs, protecting, humble, will never fail, and so much more.
Without him, even if we can speak every language, talk to angels, can foretell the future, and have all knowledge of the world, give everything we have away and are the most generous person alive, if it’s without having God then we are nothing, and it is all for nothing.
Without God we are dead. Dead in our sins. We need God to make us alive, to give us meaning, to have everything through him. All these things will fail, all other things on earth will fail. Everything will die and cease to exist- all other things except God. He lives forever and will never fail. He holds all victory and power in the earth, under the earth, and over it.
Reread 1 Corinthians 13 with God in place of love. This is just a glimpse into how good he truly is. He is a God worth knowing and I would encourage you to start. If you don’t know where to start please let me know and I’d love to talk more about how to with you!
