How Big is Your God?

Let's picture the highest mountain, Everest. What about the deepest ocean? Now, think about how all of these are contained inside a planet called Earth. Then, Earth with the collection of other planets, dwarf planets (aka. our Solar System), stars, remnants of stars, gas, dust and dark matter form our galaxy, Milky Way. But our galaxy is not the only one in the universe; there are many more alike. Now, I know where your head is going - Creationism (or Big Bang). Many Christians struggle to reconcile what is commonly believed in the world of science, so much so that they begin to reject the concept that science can support faith. Moreover, there are those who, because of some logic issues, they give up on believing altogether. 

I'm not here to change the way you believe how the universe came into being, but here's a thought: so what if Big Bang is real? It doesn't mean God doesn't exist. It also doesn't mean there is no such thing as creationism. What if 'Big Bang' is God's way of creating the universe? Either way, the handy work is still very impressive. Wouldn't it still make you marvel at how everything came together? One way or the other does not make God small or non-existent. In fact, God remains unchanged whichever way you decide to believe how the universe came to be. God is a being, a human through Jesus Christ - He is not constrained by our perception of Him, just as the way we think about a person, no matter how right or wrong, doesn't change who that person is. God is God, and our understandings of Him wouldn't make Him any less God than He is. 

"For dust you are, and to dust you shall return." - Genesis 3:19 NIV

The question here is: How big is your God? 

Sometimes, we can let our preconception of God hinder us from experiencing the fullness of God. We get so held up in our pre-conceived ideas that we don't allow ourselves to be vulnerable to experience more of God. Let me ask you a question: just because something bad happens to you, does it make God a bad God? Or is God still good? If your perception of God changes due to your surroundings, then how big is God to you? Obviously, in this context, he is confined to your thoughts, your environment. Then, if you can held him captive, have you just made him smaller, from a God to a god? We are humans after all - we are limited, and our minds cannot truly and fully comprehend the divine. 

You see this box on the left? Isn't it small? Now, imagine putting God in it. Have you managed to do it? I'll tell you how you can do it - write a list of everything what you think God ought to be and put it in. There, you've done it. Before we point fingers (or complain about this trap), I will admit I have committed this crime before, though not consciously. Fact is people are prone to do this - because they have the fear of believing in the 'wrong' god, they list down all the details of what God should be like. There's nothing bad or wrong in doing that, but it seems to discount the fact that God is a living being, a human through Jesus Christ, someone we should continue to experience daily. You and I wouldn't like it if someone makes a generalised statement based on what they think of us. For example, people tend to have the idea that I'm afraid of public speaking, all because I'm composed and think before I make noise. In people's eyes, there is no fluidity in what I can be - it's 'if you are this, then you are not that' sort of situation. Just as we don't like it when people restrict us into a type or category, we should not do the same to God. What we need to learn to do is know that God is God despite our situations, our questions, our shortcomings.

We usually use the reference of receiving Jesus like a present boxed under the Christmas tree. While this is a great way to describe the action of allowing God into our lives, what we often miss is the fact that once this box is opened we cannot put God back into it. God was never in the box in the first place. However, before we knew Him, He was someone/something distant, and hence, people can only tell us what He is like, a secondhand experience, until we meet Him. And in that manner, He 'was in a box'. Once we've encountered Him, we'll see how big He is and how He cannot be contained.

Of course it is easier said than done. Creating a box gives us the sense of security, certainty and stability. It provides us chances to defend ourselves or justify our faith or the feeling of being safe. But trust me, once you let go of this box, you'll see God is a grander way. You would also come in contact with true peace, certainty and beauty of trusting in God - and no matter what other people say, what is happening around you, you'll not be shaken. That is the grandeur of realising that God is so big that no words can describe.

May peace be with you.