Of dogs and God

“Yes! You’re such a good boy, aren’t you?!? You love it when I scratch your belly. Oh yes. Yes you do! You’re a good boy. You’re such a happy boy. Yes……yes. Good boy.”

Can’t you imagine that conversation taking place between a “man’s best friend” & its owner? In fact, I’m pretty certain that I’ve had conversations like this with dogs that I’ve had in the past. But the thing is, it’s not a conversation, is it? It’s essentially a person talking to themselves by putting words in a dog’s mouth, words that the owner wants to hear. Words that please them.

Now there’s nothing wrong with this. This is basically using the imagination that God gave you to enjoy the animal that God gave you. Unfortunately, all too often, this is how people in the world treat their “so-called” relationship with God.

We all know that dog is god spelled backwards, but have you ever thought about how much people treat God like they treat their dog? Now THIS is backwards. What exactly am I talking about? Well haven’t you ever heard someone say: “I’m spiritual and I have a relationship with God on my own terms.” Push them a little more and they might tell you that they pray and that God speaks to them thru songs, nature, good books, feelings, maybe even their pets.

What they’re telling you is that they’ve created a god in their own image. A god that does what they want. A god that tells them what they want to hear. A god who doesn’t really speak at all. It’s really no different than the “relationship” they have with their dog, except that at least the dog exists.

Obviously, this is foolish. In fact it’s idolatry and it’s disastrous. But I wonder if we Christians ever behave like this? Do you find that you treat God as if he approves of everything you do? Do you put words in His mouth? Do you act like He hasn’t spoken for Himself? Or do you try to know Him as He’s revealed Himself to be?

Because the truth of the matter is that He has spoken for Himself and He has revealed Himself for who He truly is!  Remember that we have the full revelation of God in Scripture! We have the oracles of God’s amazing character written down in an unchanging document right at our fingertips in the Bible.

So friends, let’s know Him for who He truly is, in all His unchanging Holiness by spending more time with Him in His Word and less time imagining Him in our own image. After all, because of the Cross, He is truly our friend and the best one we could possibly imagine!