Oct 21, 2011
What is God Like? Better Than We Can Imagine
God is great at remembering his promises and at forgetting our sins. I tend to think he’s either great at one or the other. Either he remembers his promises AND all of my sins, or he forgets my sins but he also fails to follow up on his promises.
It’s hard to imagine how God does it. In the past I’ve failed to follow up on commitments or e-mails. I typically feel awful about it, and then I get to enjoy the guilt that comes with letting someone down. So I know how to fail pretty comprehensively.
God is so unlike us!
It’s so important to sit and reflect on the work of God because it’s counterintuitive. God’s promises are better than anything we could cook up on our own. If we don’t let his Spirit reshape and renew our minds, we’ll never figure it out.
In fact, God promised to do this for us. The new covenant means that God’s law will be written on our minds and hearts. God promises to make himself known to us. At the climax of these promises in Hebrews 8, we find this incredible statement:
“I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.” – Hebrews 8:12
These promises are being fulfilled today. God is here to redeem people who fail—people like me. People like you. That redemption means he’ll never forget what he has promises to do, but our sins are forgotten.
Sometimes I fear that I’ve taken God’s grace too far. I often find God is far ahead of me, offering me something greater than what I can imagine.
My atheist friends often accuse us of creating God in our own image instead of the other way around. I think, “Really? I’m pretty sure He’s better than that!”