Too Familiar With God

In the modern church, we have become much too familiar and far too casual with God.
God is a person and is to be known personally - but He is now treated as our 'buddy' instead of our Lord.
This is a relatively new approach to Almighty God; foreign to past generations in Christianity and it may very well be this generation's downfall within the Body of Christ.

"If you find God with great ease, perhaps it is not God you have found." 
                                                                                                 - Thomas Merton

Merton's comment rings true still today because a lot of what people claim is of God certainly is not. Miracles in everyday things which have another explanation, lessen the meaning and power of real miracles, such as a man being healed of cancer.
This familiarity with God means that we've lost something; something we should desire to retain.

I once was able to attend an Orthodox Church; quite a different experience than to what I am accustomed. The priests are professional Christians, everything is dutiful. Everything is done in threes. Most of the service is sung. People stand, they don't sit.
The service in an Orthodox Church is designed outwardly to express the mystery and majesty of worship.
Literally, centuries have passed, the liturgy remains largely unchanged.
Most western Christians cannot understand what's going on and do not understand why any one would want to worship in this manner.

In the Orthodox Church, there is a reverence, an awe, a submission to God.
Evangelicals on the other hand - do not usually agree. 
To the Evangelical, he would say that God seems so far away.
The truth is that Orthodox has placed God at its center for centuries - Evangelical services of worship don't always do that. 
For example, how many songs do you sing, or how many Christians won't go to a church if it doesn't have Contemporary music? How much of the Word is read and proclaimed? How long is spent in prayer? 
All good questions and all center around the view a Christian has of God.

Orthodoxy makes it clear that one does not approach Almighty God as you would a mortal man.
It has placed God at the center of its worship for centuries and has withstood the test of time. 
For example, the Russian Orthodox Church outlasted the Soviet Union; they faced the most man-centered, atheistic assault in history - and yet, they prevailed because God was at the center of all they do.

In the Bible, we read of a God who reveals Himself in various ways; many times, especially when we suffer and are in pain, we want Him to reveal Himself to us now.
While science accumulates knowledge, knowledge of God is vastly different because every encounter is unique to that person and situation. 
A prayerful illiterate man may have a greater concept of God's mercy than a man teaching at a school of theology; for each encounter is an experience of its own.

In the Holy Land, we read of God appearing in bushes which burst into flames; yet the bush isn't consumed.
We read of a stranger questioning Joshua before Jericho.
We read of Ezekiel's 'Wheel within a Wheel' and there are many, many others.
But we do not see these type of encounters anymore; it is as if the supernatural has gone into hiding.
For some, God is invisible and when that concept takes over a person's mind, they will make God in their own image.

True Christianity holds fast to the person-hood of God.
He is real, He is involved and He loves us dearly; showing us how much on the Cross.
When a person is sick or suffering, they will ask of the justice and mercy of God; often, we do not have the most adequate answers. 
Out of habit, some will resort to speaking our traditional theological answers. The sad thing is, when we speak of traditional theology to someone who is hurting, it is similar to reading recipes to a person who is starving.
Theological concepts cannot heal, cannot touch, and cannot love the way God can because God is a person, not a concept.

The Apostle John clearly teaches us that God is personal and wants to relate to us.
If this is true, then why do we find it so hard to relate to God?
I mean, seriously, the modern church in America has removed any mystery or majesty from God and brought Him down to our level; and still, many Christians find it hard to relate to the very God whom they've brought to themselves.
In fact, some are so removed from God, they will pray to saints - I guess they're less scary than God.

In the late 1500's, the Protestant Reformers began to promote the idea of an individual Christian relating to God personally instead of through a priest.
Today, the Modern Evangelical Christian has taken this to the utmost degree.
Evangelicals speak of knowing God personally, talking with God in the vernacular language and the praise song which are sung in modern worship often sound exactly like the love songs on pop radio with God or Jesus substituted for the name of the lover.
Place this against a candle-lit, fully robed choir in a high loft: indeed times have changed.

Familiarity has also led to abuse by some:
'God is telling me you need to sow greater seed in the Kingdom....'

Deceitful and manipulative tactics and messages by those who were less than men of God have damaged what it means to walk by faith and Christianity as a whole.
When a person comes forward with a 'message' they just received, I know two things: One is that a voice to voice conversation with God did not take place.
Secondly, I know the person is probably telling me something to do which is advantageous to themselves. 

Some see a demon behind every bush and an angel in every open parking space.
This casual relationship with God is not good. When we can speak of the recent movie marquee and God with ease in the same sentence, something is wrong.

There is a mystery and  majesty about the very nature of God.
People look for signs of the Almighty - but I have seen them. I have seen the quite devotion of a Godly mother with an infant. I have seen God in the charity of a man in giving to those less fortunate, although neither had much.
I have seen God's signs in the world through a children's choir and the glow on the faces of the adults as they sang God's praises. I have seen Him in His Word being preached, His Spirit leading the heart in prayer and His servants trusting Him and walking by faith.

This is the type of familiarity we should desire - not the common lip service and odd actions of modern American but rather a familiarity which breeds holiness, trust and truth through our lives.
This familiarity is what Moses had on the Mount with God, it is what Jesus had when He retreated to pray and it is what we should seek through our lives with our Lord.

Until Next Time, Win One for the Good Guys.