By. Dr. DAN ERICKSON
Over the years I have told my grandchildren that they were God’s very best. I would often ask them, “Who are you?” With my coaching, they learned to respond, “I am the best” with a gleam in their eyes. As they have gotten older, my response is, “You have to be who you are.”
I got a call not long ago from my oldest granddaughter. She never calls me, so I knew it was important. She asked, “Is it true that everyone is born the best?” I responded, “Yes, every person was made in the image of God and he does not make any junk.” She responded, “Are you sure?” I emphatically responded, “I am very sure and why are you asking? Are you misbehaving?” She quickly said, “I have to go now.”
She was being disciplined for misbehaving and rebelling against her parents. They were reminding her that she was not being the best – not being who she really was. She kept telling them, “I am really not the best.” She wasn’t just questioning her parents – she was questioning her God.
Maybe you can identify. In the Garden of Eden, Satan sought to undermine God. He asked Eve, “Did God really say … ?” We have been expressing our opinion and disagreeing with God ever since.
There are a lot of opinions about God and spirituality. I used to say, “If God said it, I believe it, and it is so.” But now after getting much older I agree with a good friend of mine who says, “God is real. He lives in Heaven. God and I may have our own opinions, but guess whose opinion doesn’t count.” It does not matter if I believe it. If God says it, it is so, period.
There is the God who is and there is the god we think we want. We want a God who loves, but not a God who disciplines. We want a God who is benevolent and kind but not one who is judge and jury. The God who created us in his image and made us his very best is the same heavenly Father who disciplines us so we will become who we were meant to be.
Discover the God who is so you can discover the person who you can become and imagine the possibilities!
