How do you view God? Everyone has some concept of what God is like but they can be wildly different from person to person. Over the course of the next few posts I will be exploring some of the ways we view God. These are based on the work of Curt Cloninger and his film "God Views".
The first view of God is the "Cosmic Sheriff". This is where you view God as riding on His horse "Guilt" looking for anyone who has broken one of His many rules. When He finds a violator, He gleefully delivers the required punishment. This God does forgive, but only grudgingly because it is required by the law. This is the common view of God held by children. It is also held by those who have grown up in the church but drifted away as they grew up. They never learn the true nature of God.
God isn't some hard to please task master looking to rebuke us at the least little infraction. I think Christians can be guilty of fostering this view of God. We tend to focus on the image of God on His judgment throne instead of on the cross. It is true that God calls us to lead a righteous life, but He isn't waiting for us to fail so He can mete out punishment. No, God is our biggest fan. He wants us to succeed. His plans are for our success. Jeremiah 29:11 says that He has plans for us, "plans to prosper us and not to harm us...". We need to focus more on this aspect of God not the "Cosmic Sheriff".
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