“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”
– A.W. Tozer
I’ve been to many places. I’ve walked through lands where gods are crafted by human hands—shaped in gold, adorned in beauty, and worshiped with extravagant sacrifice. These idols sit in temples, parade through streets, dressed in their culture’s finest, and celebrated with reverence. But it’s a reverence veiled in illusion.
To many Christians, the idea of bowing to a statue seems foreign—almost grotesque. We proclaim that our God is living, holy, real. The one true God.
But here’s the sobering truth: we too can worship false gods. They may not be carved from stone or cast in gold, but they exist. We call them success, comfort, control, approval, performance, even ministry. Worse, we sometimes worship a false image of God—not an idol in our homes, but a warped version of Him in our hearts.
These distortions are often shaped by fear, shame, pride, or unmet expectations. We build a version of God we can understand, a God we can control, a God who fits in our box. Just like the Israelites in Exodus 32, who formed a golden calf—not because they wanted a new god, but because they wanted a tangible one. One they could see. One that made sense.
But when we worship a false perception of God, our faith is misplaced. We wonder why, when things go wrong, nothing feels stable. Why our “god” isn’t answering. Why everything seems to fall apart. And it’s because the god we built up in our minds was never real.
Meanwhile, the true God—Yahweh—is on the mountain, in the thick cloud, making a way. He is not absent. He is drawing near. Even when all we see is darkness, He is working.
“We can’t place our trust in man-made things just because we understand how they work. God is God because He is beyond our understanding.” We were never meant to fully comprehend Him—we’re not God. But we were made to trust Him.
So… What concept of God have we built in our minds?
I had a false perception of God. I grew up in the faith, but somewhere along the way, my relationship with Jesus became more about law than love. I believed in Him, I loved Him—but I lived like I had to earn His grace. I thought I had to work to get enough.
That’s not truth.
Just last year, I received a life-changing revelation: I will never do enough to deserve what Jesus did for me on the cross. But the cross was never about deserving—it was always about love. God is love. “Perfect love casts out fear… If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced His perfect love,” (1 John 4:18).
For a long time, I was afraid of God. I saw Him primarily as a judge—someone watching closely, waiting to punish me the moment I messed up or fell short of His law. I lived under the pressure of performance, striving to earn what was already freely given. But Scripture says: “The law gives power to sin,” (1 Corinthians 15:56).
Trying to live by the law alone kept me bound in fear. But love—true, divine love—is powered by Light and Truth. And God is Light. “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free,” (John 8:32). That Truth is not a mere concept. It’s not a rulebook or an idea. The Truth is a Person. His name is Jesus. And He came not to condemn, but to set us free.
What is your life built on?
“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock… But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand,” (Matthew 7:24–27).
If your foundation is based on who God truly is—on His character—you will not be moved. “Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever,” (Psalm 125:1). But if your identity is built on a false image of God or on idols, your life is built on sand. And when the storm comes, it will fall apart. Just like the man-made idol.
So… who is God?
“The Lord passed before Moses, proclaiming, ‘The Lord, the Lord, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,'” (Exodus 34:6-7).
God is:
Compassionate and gracious
Holy and just
Infinite, unchanging, and faithful
A healer, a provider, a Father
The Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end
The God of seen and unseen things
The Truth that sets us free
He is HESED — the Hebrew word for loyal love, kindness, mercy, and unwavering faithfulness.
And here’s the best part: God is predictable—His response to repentance is always love. Every time His children return to Him with humble hearts, He responds with mercy, grace, and love. Just look at His response to the prodigal son in Luke 15. The Father ran to the son and embraced him fully.
So fall into surrender… and you’ll fall into His love.
Let go of the idol. Let go of the box. Let go of the counterfeit.
And let the real God show you who He is.
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