…they traded the true God for a fake god and worshiped the god they made instead of the God who made them. (Romans 1:25, The Message)
There is an often-used Bobby Jones quote that has become a cliche; “Golf is played mainly on a five-and-a-half-inch course, the space between your ears.” Cliché’s are cliché’s because they are usually true.
To say there is a mental component to the game of golf would be a huge understatement. Just think back to some of your last rounds. Those times, you lost focus and hit the shot anyway or hit a shot even when you doubted you should. After a bad shot, my tendency has been to hit the next shot just as poorly because I don’t reset my mental and emotional routines.
There is a mental side to our relationship with God as well. A.W. Tozer writes, “We tend, by a secret law of the soul, to move toward our mental image of God.” I’ve been amazed at how a person’s ideas about God tend to offset the quality of their life and the things they feel and do.
We all have some image of God, but those ideas are blemished by experiences and inaccurate characterizations.
In J.B. Phillips’ book Your God is Too Small, there is a list of the most common misconceptions about God. See if any of these match your mental picture.
God is an Heirloom…passed down from generation to generation. God is associated with the past; it is very difficult to see Him as relevant today and interested in our specific problems.
God is a Policeman… sitting behind heavenly billboards waiting to catch people doing something wrong.
God is a Nice Old Man… like Santa Claus, a nice guy but a little out of touch.
God is a Crutch… the one that we run to in our troubles. He is an escapist used to bolster our security.
God is a Disappointment… so we tend to blame God for anything that goes wrong in our lives or in the world.
God is a Baptist… and gets squeezed into the mold of a certain denomination. It becomes difficult to see how God can work in the lives of people who belong to another church. Often, when someone discards a minor point of theology, they discard God too.
God is a Belief… a truth and justice system, or even fate. He is an abstract philosophical concept.
God is Religious… only interested in spiritual things like Bible reading, prayer, and church. He’s fine inside of a religious box.
God is an American… chained to our cultural, political, or national group. He looks with more interest on us than the other inferior classes of nationalities.
Most of the time, when someone says to me, I don’t believe in God, they are referring to one of these misconceptions. After finding out what kind of God they don’t believe in, I usually say, “I don’t believe in that God either.”
Where do you get your mental images of God? When in doubt, go to the source. Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” John 14:9
Prayer: Jesus, Open the eyes of my heart and correct any faulty images I’ve had about you.