too_small

Is Your God Too Small?, by Randall D. Kittle

One of my favorite things to do is watch people. Each person is different … unique … and interesting. The other day I observed a man using his iPhone as he waited for an appointment. He checked his email, surfed the internet, listened to some music, played a few games, and worked on some computer files all on this little device he kept in his pocket.

This made me think about what marvelous days we live in technologically. The devices that many average Americans possess would have seemed truly miraculous only a few decades ago. For example, I remember receiving a “portable stereo system” for Christmas one year when I was in grade school. When fully collapsed, this “modern, transportable wonder” was about the size of a small suitcase and weighed a lot more. Fortunately for me, I was somewhat big for my age; otherwise, I would never have been able to move it. It’s funny to think about it nowadays when the average “smart phone” has more music stored in it than you could listen to in a week. The same phone has so much computer power it would have taken a computer the size of an entire room to match it when I was a kid. How amazing that we’ve been able to miniaturize things to the extent that we now have so much ability conveniently available in our pockets, able to be used whenever we want.

Unfortunately, it seems like many Americans have done the same with God. The vast majority of studies affirm that most people in North America are not atheists — they believe in “god.” The problem is that most Americans believe in a god of their own invention. They believe in a god they’ve created in their minds — a miniaturized god they can manage, control, and utilize when necessary to suit their needs. A. W. Pink put it this way, “The ‘god’ of this century no more resembles the Supreme God of the Bible than does the dim flickering of a candle resemble the glory of the midday sun.”

As believers, we need to make certain we haven’t let this worldly mindset of a handy “pocket god” dilute how we see the infinite, almighty God we serve. In these days of increasing trials and tribulation, we need our trust to be in our God who, according to the Scriptures, is able to save us, able to keep us, able to aid us, able to make grace abound to us, able to subdue all things, and able to do exceedingly more than we can even imagine. Do you see God as well able to do all this … and more? If not, allow the articles in this issue to wash away the effects of the belittling, limiting mindsets of the world so you can see Him for what He is — the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful God. Is your “God” too small?