“If you don’t love God, it’s because you don’t really know God. Those who reject God are rejecting a false conception of who God is. . . . a God who is less than good. My advice? Go ahead and reject those false beliefs which lead to false narratives. . . . What you’ll discover is God who is Tov with a capital T.”- Mark Batterson
In his Introduction to Part 3 (God Most Good”) of A Million Little Miracles, Mark Batterson describes every miracle he’s detailed so far as manifestations of God’s goodness. A concept called common grace. Certainly, though, there’s nothing common about common grace.
However, Pastor Batterson stresses, one cannot define an attribute of God as something God does. Rather, it’s something God is. Thus, Mark posits, to know God is to love God. So, Mark reasons, if you don’t love God, it’s because you don’t know God.
Hence, in speaking of his own deconstruction, Eric Metaxas said:
“Everything I had rejected about God was actually not God. It was just dead religion. It was people who go to church but did not show the love of Jesus . . . people who don’t practice what they preach, who are indifferent to the poor and suffering. . . . I had rejected that. But guess what? Jesus had also rejected that.”
In conclusion, Pastor Batterson asks, what’s really happening when we:
- worship?
- pray?
- get into God’s Word?
Mark argues that a supernatural synchronicity takes place. We harmonize with heaven, keep in step with the Spirit. Furthermore, our hearts and minds sync with the heart and mind of Christ.
For better or worse, accurate or inaccurate, we draw a picture of God all the time. And if the image we draw is off, then we relate to God for all the wrong reasons.
Above all, Mark exhorts that God is good, all the time. Or, to flip the order, all the time, God is good. Therefore, we don’t find the greatest miracles by looking through a telescope or microscope. Instead, the greatest miracles manifest God’s goodness.
Today’s question: When have you held onto a false conception of God? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “A secret law of the soul”