The Key West Citizen

The Living God. Psa. 103:8-13,
Isa. 40:25-29, Mat. 6:9b, Jn. 4:23.
24, Jn. 10:30.

Men have always stood in fear
and awe of gods. It is only through
the revelation of the Bible and the
ministry of Jesus Christ that man
has learned through these sources
the one true and omnipotent God.
We love God as revealed to us be-
cause he first loved us.

The Bible does not try to prove
that there is a God. There is no
way to prove this. Reason leads us
to believe that some great mind
conceived and created the world.
When, and not until we believe in
God, can we know that God exists.
This is wholly a matter of faith.
When we come to believe this, then
religion takes on a clearer pattern
and develops into a convincing
truth.

Religion is something like a bus-
iness. If we believe in the product
we make and then try to sell it.
the business can develop into a
most successful enterprise. When
we join the church and are bap-
tized we must move onward and up-
ward into an efficient ambassador
of the faith. Too many labor under
the illusion that church membership
and baptism is the end of Chris-
tian experience. You can't stand
still. We either move upward to
a successful Christian character or
we deteriorate, into what is com-
monly called a backslider.

God Is Merciful
Now let us look at some of the
attributes of God. He is a merci-
ful Father. We are told that the
fear of God is the beginning of wis-
dom. (Psa. 111:10). Then our
modern psychologists warn us that
fear is the root of many physical
and mental disorders. Should we
fear God?

There are many kinds of fear.
The wrongdoer is in fear of punish-
ment. The slave is in fear of an
oppressive master. The weak man
fears the strong whether it be phys-
ical strength, political power or
economic dominance. Such fear
can be destructive when one crin-
ges before tyrants.

There is another kind of fear
which is constructive. When one is
in fear of danger and takes ade-
quate precautions to avoid some
calamity it is a matter of self-pre-
servation. When General Eisenhow-
er walked along with a private in
the battle of the Bulge the soldier
said he was scared. The great Gen-
eral said, "So am I so we'll walk
together." They knew there was
danger ahead and that their lives
depended on that fear which would
move them to take the necessary
precautions to avoid destruction.
The foolhardy person is not coura-
geous but lacking good judgement
God has outlined some instruc-
tions which are for our own good.
He knows that we will be tempted
and even though we sin, God is
not a vengeful deity who punishes
without mercy. As a merciful Fa-
ther he is gracious, slow to anger
abundant in loving kindness and
forgiving. He does not deal with
us after our sins or does he re-
ward us according to our iniqui-
ties for his mercy is as high as
heaven itself. He is a merciful Fa-
ther.

God Is Creator
Isaiah gives us a little picture
of the incomparable greatness of
our God. In recent years scientists
have been scanning the heavens
with their powerful telescopes.
They have concluded that we are
in an expanding universe, that
some of the heavenly bodies are
receding away from the earth at
a terrific speed. The atheist sets
up his little idol of wood or stone
and worships the inanimate. He re-
fuses to open his eyes and behold
the wonders of the universe. The
writer of this passage speaks of
God as sitting on the circle of the
earth, "that stretcheth out the hea-
vens as a curtain. . . that bringeth
princes to nothing: that maketh the
judges of the earth as vanity."
"Lift up your eyes on high and see
who hath created these, that bring
eth out their host by number; he
calleth them all by name: by the
greatness of his might, and for that
he is strong in power, not one is
lacking." (Isa. 40:26).

It would be foolish indeed to
think that the world just happen-
ed with all the harmony and beau-
ty that prevails. The world is a-
live with a continuous flow of liv-
ing things and we must conclude
that our God is a living God. We
are in the hollow of his merciful
hand, a hand of love. The Psalmist
says (46:2). "We shall not fear
though the earth do change, and
though the mountains be shaken in-
into the heart of the seas."

Frederick Douglas, an ex-slave
of Boston, lashed at the evils of
slavery and concluded by saying
that the white people would never
free the slaves. He said that arm-
ed revolt was the only answer and
it could only result in wholesale
slaughter. An old Negro woman
arose and asked, "Frederick, is
God dead?" He had no answer and
neither have we.

Worship God
In, the Lord's Prayer we say,
Hallowed be thy name." We ap-
peal to God in heaven and heaven
means in Hebrew "rolling cloud,"
"thin air." We sometimes think of
heaven as being far off and when
some pray we think God may be
far off or hard of hearing. God is
ever present and we hallow his
name, keep it sacred. revere it
and are told not to take that name
in vain. In this worship we can
look upon God as a merciful and
loving Father and revere and res-
pect the name as one sacred.

When Jesus talked to the woman
of Samaria he was involved in a
religious argument as to whether
Jerusalem or Samaria was the
most sacred shrine.
Jesus brushed all this aside and
bluntly declared the time had ar-
rived when the true worshipper
would worship the Father in spirit
and in truth. This worship did not
consist in offering certain sacrifi-
ces or meticulously following cer-
tain rituals, but one of worshipping
in spirit and truth.

One of our columnists wrote of
people going to church to show off
their wardrobe or to observe what
others were wearing. Naturally the
question arises as to just why we
go to church. It is said the Jap-
anese will go to their temple and
run around the building some one
hundred times dropping a stick at
a certain place at each round, then
go home tired and exhausted feel-
ing that they have worshipped their
god. Unless we go to church with
the express purpose of communing
in fellowship with the living God,
we are benefited no more than the
poor heathen who do some ritualis-
tic act feeling that they appease
their gods.

True worship is beneficial spir-
ituallly. That means that if we wor-
ship in the proper manner we shall
be inclined to lead a good life. The
heathen separates his religion from
morality. He can be religious with-
out being good. This is like the
Mexican bandits who range the
country robbing and killing until
Easter time when they attend the
service to make their confessions
only to return to their nefarious
trade. God has revealed himself in
Jesus Christ and to worship him in
truth means that we seek to be
like him. We come to God, the Fa-
ther, only through Jesus Christ.

Based on copyrighted outlines
produced by the Division of Christian
Education, National Council of
the Churches of Christ in the U. S.
A. and used by permission.