When It Comes to God, You're More Than Okay

More Than Okay Series — Part 2

Many people want God.

But many people also fear God.

For a lot of us, the idea of God carries a strange mixture of longing and anxiety.

We want meaning.
We want guidance.
We want the comfort of knowing we’re not alone.

And yet, at the same time, we sometimes feel uneasy about God.

We worry about judgment.

We imagine a God who is disappointed in us.
A God who is keeping score.
A God who expects more than we can possibly give.

These images of God don’t usually come from nowhere. They are shaped by culture, religion, family experiences, and sometimes by our own anxious thoughts.

But what if those images of God aren’t actually true?

When Jesus came, he didn’t simply teach people about God.

He revealed God.

As Paul writes in Colossians, Jesus is “the image of the invisible God.”

If we want to know what God is really like, we look at Jesus.

And what do we see?

We see compassion.

We see someone who moved toward people others rejected.

We see forgiveness offered freely.

We see someone who healed the sick, welcomed the outsider, and comforted those who were afraid.

Again and again, Jesus moved toward people in their fear, shame, and suffering — not away from them.

And then the New Testament makes one of the most astonishing statements about God:

God is love.
(1 John 4:8)

Not God is love but…

Not God is love sometimes…

Not God is love if you behave well enough.

Simply:

God is love.

When we begin to see God this way, something inside us can start to relax.

Faith stops feeling like a test we have to pass.

Instead, it becomes a relationship of trust.

A place of safety.

A place where we can stop striving so hard and begin to rest in the love that has always been there.

If God is truly love, then faith is not meant to increase our fear.

It is meant to free us from it.

And when that truth begins to sink in, we begin to see something surprising:

When it comes to God, we are not barely tolerated.

We are deeply loved.

And that means something about our lives may be far more secure than we thought.

When it comes to God, you’re not just okay.

You’re more than okay.

Reflection question

What has shaped your image of God most in your life — fear, love, or something in between?

This reflection is part of the More Than Okay series — you can follow the journey below.