I believe very deeply in God even though my actions do not often correspond with my beliefs. I have strong beliefs in what His character is like. I might be wrong, but here are some of the characteristics I believe He possesses.
I believe He is very practical. He knows we are not perfect. He knows that we are fallible human beings and that it often takes a long time for us to get things right. If we have an addiction, for example, I believe that He wants us not to feel guilty when we mess up; He just wants us to stop committing the sin represented by the addiction. Beating ourselves up does not accomplish anything. We need to be practical with ourselves. Because religion and our relationship with God are such personal issues, it can be easy to get frustrated if we feel that we are not on the right path. But the bridge between the right and wrong path in life is not frustration. It is repentance. Don’t worry about what you have done in the past; just concentrate hard on the future. Where we are on the right path is less important than the fact that we are on the right path, in my opinion.
Another characteristic of God’s that I take great comfort in is His level of understanding of us, which is perfect. He has known us longer than anyone else in our lives. The more we understand someone, the less likely we are to judge them. And the less often we judge them, the more likely we are to build a strong relationship with them. The more strong relationships we have in life, the better, right?
Another aspect of God’s character that is perfect is His keeping of His word. I believe that one of the most important things that we can do in this life to ensure that we have the Spirit of God with us is to keep our word, be honest with people, and be nice. This sounds so simple, but it is rarely practiced. If we are having a conversation with someone, we shouldn’t wait until they are done talking about themselves in a sentence, just to excitedly start talking about our own issues in life. If we think about ourselves less, and others more, we will be happier. When God promises us something, it happens. It may not happen the exact way we like it, but His word is His law. We need to be more like that. We need to mean what we say and say what we mean. A lot of times, fear prevents us from communicating properly. It shouldn’t. If we are afraid of what the other person will think if we are honest with them, then we are being selfish. We ultimately care more about ourselves and how we are perceived, then about the spiritual health of the other person.
If we are texting, we need to answer just as quickly when the subject matter is not about what we are interested in, as we do when it is. If we tell a person we are going to do something, we need to do it. That is what my God would do.
