C.S. Lewis once said that our ideas about God are not “divine ideas.” As much as we’d like to believe that our views of God are always biblical, we all bring assumptions and default beliefs to the table through our lived experience. Our culture, relationships, childhood hurts, and even our churches can all wrongly influence and shape our beliefs about who God is – often without us even realizing it. Rather than following the one, true God, we end up worshiping a God shaped by our own experiences.
In this series, we’ll examine some common default views of God many of us carry – often unconsciously – and ask whether they tell the whole story. We’ll invite God to shatter some of these false images to make way for a clearer view. And as we do, we’ll pray to be reshaped into the kinds of people who don’t project our fears onto God but rather reflect God’s wisdom and ways into the world.
Week 1: Defaults
This week, Nicole Howe discussed how our default views of God can profoundly influence our spiritual journey. Where do these default images come from and why do they matter? To explore this question, Nicole led us through two very different works of C.S. Lewis – The Problem of Pain and A Grief Observed – which together show how both external and internal knowledge are always at work in shaping our views of God. When we grow in greater awareness of our default views, we open ourselves up to a deeper, and more honest, relationship with God.
Kingdom Practices:
Continue reflecting on how your experiences, relationships, and past wounds may be contributing to your view of God. Are there places where your view of God seems out of alignment with what you know to be true? Can you begin to explore where those views may have come from?
Revisit the practice Nicole led on Sunday to ground yourself in the truth of who God is in Scripture. Where have you experienced God’s kindness and gentle shepherding? Can you root yourself in this truth this week, despite your “shifting moods”?
Week 2: Examining Our Pictures of God
This week, we explored how our default images of God come into being. Marsha Vaughn walked us through how experiences, emotions, and explanations all work together to shape whether we see God as being primarily like us or not like us. While these incorrect default images are often formed in community, we can also find our way to truer, deeper understandings of God through community.
Kingdom Practices
This week, consider engaging the following questions to help bring your default images of God to the surface.
- How do you relate to God when your life has become disordered?
- What emotions have you been told are not ok? How do you relate to God when those emotions surface?
- What explanations have you assigned to disorder and “not okay” emotions? How does that impact the way you relate to God?
Week 3: Theological Truths and Practices
This week, Jason led us through the final teaching in our series. When it comes to our default images of God, how might we be “transformed by the renewing of our mind”? Anchoring ourselves in the fullness of God’s true image and character is not an intellectual exercise but is instead cultivated by the deepening our relational connection with God. Spiritual practices help to cultivate the right conditions for this type of relational connection.
Kingdom Practices
Consider engaging one of three spiritual practices that Jason offered last Sunday. As we journey into these final weeks of Lent, we invite you to commit to regularly engaging in these practices together in community and reflecting on how they anchor you in the fulness of God’s Presence. You will find guided instructions for each practice below.
Books and Articles
Where Prayer Becomes Real by Kyle Strobel and John Coe
When God Seems Distant by Kyle Strobel and John Coe
The Good and Beautiful God by James Bryan Smith
The Magnificent Story by James Bryan Smith
God Has a Name by John Mark Comer
With by Skye Jethani
A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis
The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis
Podcasts
Another Kind of Life a session taught by Chris Hall at a one day event done with Renovaré
Character of God a podcast series from the Bible Project based on Exodus 34:6-7
Videos and Music
Character of God Word Studies a series of videos from the Bible Project based on Exodus 34:6-7
Praise the Lord a song by Sean McConnell
Let You Go a song by United Pursuit and Will Reagan
Practices
An Embodied Reflection on Psalm 23
If you have a story to share about how you have been encountering God in this season, we would love to hear it!
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