What is your God View?

What is your God view? What roles do you see Him fulfilling in your life?

Your God view determines:

• Your world view
• How you see yourself
• How you make daily decisions

If you struggle with emotional eating, a key question to ask yourself is: Do you see God as safe to run to during emotional upsets?

For many years, my answer was, “No.”

Food was safe, but God was not.

In this article, we will explore how your view of God determines your trust in Him when you need comfort or whether you choose to seek comfort from food or other sources.

Is God Safe?

Up until 19 years ago, I viewed God as an Angry Party Pooper. I saw Him as disappointed with me.

To me, He was a vengeful old man sitting on His throne with a Bible in one hand and a lightning bolt in the other.

He was just waiting for me to make a mistake. When I made one, Zoom!

This God did not want me having any fun. He only wanted me to go to church and read my Bible.

And worst of all, He didn’t want me gorging on sweets and junk food! What kind of life was that?

So what did I do? I became like a rebellious Teenager! I did the opposite of what He wanted.

Although I made occasional appearances at church on Sunday, I stayed far away from the Bible at other times.

I ate all I wanted, gorging on sweets and junk food.

Prayer? Not unless I was at church or in trouble.

Sexual purity? Forget it!

No wonder I ran from God and “into the food” when I was emotionally upset.

But my view of God changed in 2001. God showed me His lovingkindness in a unique way. It could not have been anyone else but Him!

I came to know that I could not disappoint God. The reason?

God is omniscient, which means He knows everything! Disappointment occurs when you have expectations of a person or situation and feel let down when they don’t come through.

But, to quote the Skit Guys, we cannot let God down because we were never holding Him up!

He holds us up with His righteous right hand (see Isaiah 41:10). Who sits at the Father’s right hand? Jesus.

Once I received God’s lovingkindness, my image of Him as the Angry Party Pooper was dead.

Long live God My Loving Father!

I’d like to share with you some common Biblical and worldviews people can have about God. As you read them, ask God in prayer to show you the truth of your view of Him.

Your goal is to know God as He says He is in His Word.

Biblical Views of God

God as a Loving Father (Biblical)

I never knew the love, protection, and security of having an Earthly father. My natural Father abandoned my mother and me when I was just a baby. I’ve never met him, even to this day.

Back in 2001, I attended a Christian women’s conference only to support a friend. But during the Saturday night dinner, they had created a theme called “The Father/Daughter Dinner.”

When we arrived at the dining room, they had the room decorated like a prom, had corsages at every place setting, along with a silver ring.

They also had a letter written “from God” (based upon Biblical scripture) to His precious daughters about how much He loved them.

The letter touched my heart as I learned how God desired to have a personal relationship with me and care for me.

I lost it. I cried at that dinner more than I have ever cried outside of a funeral!

Then, another surprise. Men came in and prayed for us – husbands, fathers, friends.

These men I did not know personally repented before God, saying they knew they had not been the Protectors and Leaders they should have been.

They asked for God’s help and strength to become who He wanted them to be. Then,  the men sang praise songs and we all worshipped the Lord together.

Remembering that event still tugs at my heart because in that one swoop, God healed the hurt, anger, and grief inside of me. He revealed Himself to me as a loving, protective Father.

I have never been the same.

Because I saw God as a loving Father who wanted the best for me, then I stopped taking on the role of a rebellious Teenager.

I am now an adult Royal daughter who has joined her Father in His work in the family business:

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9);”

He showed me as a loving Father the life He wanted me to live. Although I did sin at times, it was not willful.

Sin no longer had dominion over me because I recognize that the Lord made His grace available to me.

He knew about the mistakes I would make before I did! Through His word, He gave me wisdom to know what to do; By His Spirit in me, He gave me the strength to do it.

God’s goodness led me to repentance.

I started reading my Father’s book, the Bible, with a heart to know His will and to do it. My desire is that each passing day, I will reflect His glory more and more.

God as a Just Judge (Biblical)

The view of God as a Just Judge is taken from His words in Jeremiah 9:23-24:

Thus says the Lord:

Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
Let not the mighty man glory in his might,
Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;
But let him who glories glory in this,
That he understands and knows Me,
That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.
For in these I delight,” says the Lord.”

Someday, we will all give account to God for what we have done in these Earthly bodies according to Hebrews 4:13:

And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”

Consider a natural judge. A judge makes His decisions by what is written in the law. I believe God’s law is written in His word, the Bible.

If He judged based on our opinion, then we could say that He is prone to partiality, playing favorites. But He does not. He always judges righteously.

If you are caught speeding down a road, you can try telling the judge, “I didn’t see the Speed Limit sign!” I tried that excuse once. The judge didn’t buy it. I still had to pay a fine.

So it is best to read and heed what is written because in the end, you will give an account.

That is why God inspired the Biblical writers to write down His word; He wants us to know His will for our own protection, health, and safety.

God has given us His word as our wisdom and His Spirit for power to obey His word.

I define “fear of the Lord” not as terror, but loving, respecting, and reverencing the Lord enough to do what He says.

It’s confidence in knowing the Lord loves us where we are and His plans for us are better than those we have for ourselves!

God as a Righteous King (Biblical)

To me, one of the saddest statements in the Bible is found in Judges 21:25:

In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

In those days, the Israelites did not have a human king to set policy over them. So each person did whatever they felt was right, influenced by the world around them.

But the truth was that the Israelites had the Most High God as King over them. However, they did not honor Him as such. They ignored the King’s decrees. They did not make themselves subject to His authority.

Since we believe that we are a royal priesthood according to the Bible, then we live according to a Theocracy regarding personal matters.

Our King sets the policies, we don’t. Scripture says though we are in the world, we are not of the world (see 1 John 2:15-16).

And guess what? Our King is coming back for us:

These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful (Revelation 17:14 ).”

Worldly Views of God

God as a Tough Taskmaster (Worldly)

Now, let’s discuss some worldly views of God. Seeing God as a tough taskmaster is typically from a Christian who has the Spiritual gift of Service.

While this wonderful gift was meant to give God glory and we are expected to serve, God never told us to work ourselves to death!

We may work hard serving in the church or volunteering, but it is good to check our motives for serving.

Is it because we think it will get us more brownie points with God or gain greater acceptance from Him?

God is not going to love us any more than He does right now.

A person with a view of God as a hard taskmaster can take on the attitude of a long-suffering martyr or victim:

“I don’t know why God is working me so hard. He won’t let me have any rest! All of these lazy people around me won’t help me!”

For a classic example of someone with this attitude in the Bible, see Martha (see Luke 10:38-42).

The Lord wanted her presence more than her service. The world would not have ended if her arrangements turned out less than perfect.

God as a Motivational Life Coach (Worldly)

I think this God view is fairly recent, especially with New Age thinking.

Such a person sees God as only there to affirm them and make them feel good. They make their decisions based solely upon what they feel is right.

They have their goals and God is there to ensure that their goals are met.

In cases in which God’s word contradicts what they think, they ignore it.

They may think, “God doesn’t know everything, does He? Besides, the Bible is an ancient book and it is not relevant to the times we are living in today.”

If someone tries to correct them and tell them that God does know everything and His word is still relevant, then they cut them off.

They follow their own standard of truth and God is just going to have to go along with it.

Actually, this viewpoint does have ancient roots. This reminds me of the Bible story in which Jacob’s wife, Rachel stole the household idols (gods) of her father, Laban (see Genesis 31:26-35).

When her father came looking for his idols, Rachel put them in a camel’s saddle and sat on them to avoid detection.

How convenient to have gods so small that you can control them or tuck them out of sight so that nobody knows you have them!

God as a Bail Bondsman (Worldly)

This person sees God as only One to call upon when they get in trouble. They see Him as the keeper of “Get Out of Hell Free” cards.

So when they are in trouble, they pray vehemently for God to get them out.

However once the storm has passed and God has delivered them, then they have no further contact with Him until they get in trouble again.

The Israelites treated God that way in the Old Testament and so did I before my turnaround in 2001.

God as a Genie (Worldly)

This one is similar to the Bails Bondsman view. A person with this view has no desire for a relationship with God apart from what they can get from Him. A new car? They got it! A new house? They got it! A closet full of new clothes and shoes? They got it!

While there is nothing wrong with wanting nice things, God wants our priorities straight. Our primary mission is to join Him in His work to seek and save lost people.

The things of this world will pass away but those we help to come to know the Lord will be added to our Heavenly account. That will be worth far more than anything we get on Earth.

So what is your God view? For us who know God, then we know the meaning of life:

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent (John 17:3).”

How tragic to spend your days pursuing everything else, but miss knowing God on a deeper level.

He is your life and the length of your days. Seek and Behold Him!

Be Blessed with Health, Healing, and Wholeness,

Kimberly Taylor

Author/Christian Life Coach of the Take Back Your Temple Weight Loss Community

P.S. Do you struggle with overeating sugar? If so, you are not alone!

Overcoming sugar addiction was a key factor on my weight loss journey; I lost 85 pounds and dropped from a size 22 to an 8.

In our 14-day Sugar Detox Challenge online course (inside the Take Back Your Temple Community), you’ll get the same success strategies and support to gain peace in your eating habits and achieve lasting weight loss.

Click here to learn more about the Take Back Your Temple Christian Weight Loss Community.