How Big Is Your God?

WGCC How Big Is Your God?

Isn’t it amazing to see how things can change so drastically in a short amount of time? I mean you hear people talk about the good ‘ol days. A time when things were supposedly better than they are now, I assume people here in Illinois talk about the good ol days. And it’s starting to get really sad for me, because I find myself starting to say things like, “I remember when the price of gas was under a dollar a gallon.” Or “When I was a kid there were no cell phones.” Oh that makes me feel old! To think that I remember when there were no cell phones or internet, CD’s, DVD’s.

But it’s amazing how things can change and when they do we remember the good ol days. But it can just be a different way of life. During the summers growing up I worked with my dad doing plumbing work. And I remember one day we were working at one’s couple’s home and they were retired, and in their retirement they were doing a lot of traveling.

The husband asked me what I liked to do in my spare time and I mentioned a few things and I said that my brothers and I liked to go camping. And we did, dad would take us camping quite a bit, and we really enjoyed it. And the guy said you like camping huh, well let me show you something. We stepped outside and in a barn by the side of his house was a huge RV. He said to me, let me show you how we camp. He stepped in that RV, and pressed a button and the whole thing went “whoosh” and lowered so you could get in it.

Then you stepped inside and it was amazing! There were couches and tables and tv’s. There was so much room, and we walked to the back and he said oh here’s the master bedroom. It was a room with a big bed and a shower. I mean to tell you this thing was nicer than my house! And I remember looking at my dad and saying and to think you made us go camping in a tent and sleep on the ground!!

But it’s true, and probably most of you who have ever gone camping before probably were like me you didn’t go camping to live easy, you don’t go camping and stay in the Ritz Carlton hotel, you went to “rough it.” You have to get the full experience of being out in the wilderness, catching, scaling, and cooking your dinner, and smelling like a foot.

But there are so many things in life that are just like that. When I watch farmers out working in their fields in the big tractors, with the air-conditioned cabs and the power-steering and other features I think that sure is a far cry from what people used years ago. In the good ol days. Must have not been too good I guess!

But I guess a lot of it comes down to preference. If you prefer to go camping or fishing or anything else the simple way, that’s great. But if you prefer to go the high-tech super overdrive way, you can certainly do that today. It just depends on the level of simplicity that you enjoy.

We have become so very accustomed to having choices. We can have things exactly the way that we want, we can customize and specialize anything to have it exactly the way that we want it. We have adopted a “Burger King” mentality, as their slogan proudly states, that you can have it your way. We want it our way. And this way of living translates right into our spiritual lives as well. We try to force our faith and our God to fit into the capacity that we set, that we’re comfortable with.

When we set these kinds of limitations, we lose sight of what God is, and how big God truly is. We’ve been talking the past couple weeks about vision, and how we can have vision as a church and how we can become people of vision. But vision is useless if you have a small view of God. Because if you have a small view of God, then you limit his power, his sacrifice, and his provision and impact in your life.

So I would ask you this morning how big is your God? How big is your view or concept of God? Jesus said in Mark 11:22 to “Have faith in God.” But it seems like every generation is asking which God am I supposed to have faith in? You see as Christians and especially as Christians living in the 21st century I think we send a lot of mixed messages to people. For instance, is it a sin to dance?