1. The God We See Is The God We Worship, Which Is The Person We Become

We become like the God we perceive—is a profound spiritual principle rooted in both Scripture and human behavior. The way we see God will inevitably shape how we live, love, and treat others.

I. 1. We Reflect What We Behold

A key verse on this idea is 2 Corinthians 3:18:

“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

• The Greek word katoptrizō (“behold as in a mirror”) implies that contemplation leads to transformation.
• To behold God rightly is to be changed by the beauty, character, and presence of who He truly is.

If we behold a vengeful or indifferent god, we’ll grow harsh, self-righteous, or cold.
If we behold the God of the cross, who washes feet and eats with sinners, we’ll become humble, merciful, and servant-hearted.

2. The False Image Principle: A Distorted View Produces Distorted Living

This concept plays out tragically throughout Scripture.

• Genesis 3: The serpent distorts Eve’s perception of God: "Did God really say...?" and "God knows that you will be like Him..." Suddenly, God seems withholding, not trustworthy. The result? Disobedience, fear, shame, hiding.
• Religious legalists in the Gospels, especially Pharisees, saw God as rule-driven, performance-based. As a result, they:
  • Justified judgmentalism
  • Had no category for compassion
  • Could not recognize grace incarnate standing before them in Jesus

Matthew 25:24: The man with one talent says:

“Master, I knew you to be a hard man…”
His perception of God as harsh led him to fear, paralysis, and fruitlessness.

If you think God hates certain kinds of people, you'll believe you're righteous in doing the same.
If you believe God is holy yet lovingly pursuing broken people, you’ll start loving in ways that make the proud uncomfortable and the humble feel seen.

3. Right Vision Produces Radical Love

Jesus is the perfect image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). When we see God through the lens of Jesus—who:

• Eats with outcasts,
• Touches lepers,
• Forgives His executioners,
• And gives His life for His enemies—

we begin to live differently.

This echoes 1 John 4:7-12:

“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love... No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.”

The implication: If we truly see and know God, love will be the fruit.

4. Practical Implications: Theology Becomes Biography

How you see God impacts how you:

• Treat the marginalized: Is God near to the brokenhearted or aloof?
• Respond to failure: Is He the God of second chances or angry disapproval?
• Handle power and position: Is God a servant King or a tyrant?
• Love your enemies: Is your God reconciling or vindictive?

You can often tell someone's theology not by their doctrine, but by their disposition.

5. Spiritual Formation: We Must Behold the True God

• Worship is formative: we become like what we adore (Psalm 115:4–8).
• The renewal of our minds (Romans 12:2) includes unlearning false images of God.

Jesus said in John 17:3:

"This is eternal life: that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.”

Knowing God rightly—intimately, relationally—leads to eternal life now and forever.

Summary

We will reflect whoever we believe God to be.

• A god of wrath: we become harsh.
• A god of indifference: we become cold.
• A god of intimacy, mercy, and justice: we become compassionate peacemakers, capable of a kind of love the world rarely sees.

We are mirrors. What image are we reflecting?
That depends on who we believe is standing before us.

II. 🛐 Seeking the God of Self-Revelation

"You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart." — Jeremiah 29:13

God desires to be known—but only as He truly is, not as we imagine Him to be. He is not discovered through self-projection, speculation, or cultural assumption. He reveals Himself through His Word, His Spirit, and supremely through His Son.

Seek the God who reveals Himself, not a god you construct from your desires, fears, culture, or tradition. The Bible consistently warns against worshiping an image of God that we shape, even as it invites us into relationship with the One who makes Himself known.

1. God Reveals Himself — We Do Not Define Him

From the beginning, God initiates revelation:

• Exodus 3:14: “I AM WHO I AM.” He is not what we want Him to be—He simply is.
• Deuteronomy 4:15-16: God warns Israel not to make any image when He spoke at Sinai, precisely because God is not to be reimagined or reshaped by human hands or minds.
• Isaiah 55:8-9: “My thoughts are not your thoughts…” We must not assume God is like us in nature or desire (cf. Psalm 50:21).

To seek God rightly is to seek Him on His own terms.

2. Jesus: The Ultimate Revelation of God

“Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father.” — John 14:9
“The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being.” — Hebrews 1:3
“He is the image of the invisible God…” — Colossians 1:15

If we want to know what God is like, we look to Jesus:

• Compassionate to the broken
• Fierce against hypocrisy
• Holy yet merciful
• Just, yet taking judgment upon Himself

To seek Jesus truly is to know God rightly.

3. The Word and the Spirit Guard Us from Idolatry

Seeking God requires:

Walking in the Spirit

“When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth.” — John 16:13
The Spirit testifies to Jesus and convicts us when our vision of God is skewed.

Immersing ourselves in His Word

“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” — John 17:17
The Word corrects false notions and reshapes our imagination according to God's revealed character and purposes.

The more we walk in Word and Spirit, the more we're conformed to God's image, rather than conforming Him to ours.

4. The Danger of Making a God in Our Own Image

🛑 Romans 1:21-23:

“Although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God... they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man…”

• We remake God to justify our biases, fears, or agendas.
• A god we fashion will always affirm our sin and never transform our hearts.
• Idolatry isn’t just statues—it’s every false vision of God we allow to rule our beliefs and behaviors.

Examples:

• The god of nationalism who blesses our tribe
• The god of moralism who rewards performance
• The god of indulgence who never calls us to repentance
• The god of wrath who never weeps over the lost
• The god of affirmation who never judges evil

5. How to Seek the True God

✅ Humble Yourself

“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” — James 4:6
Admit you might be wrong about Him. Let Him define Himself.

✅ Behold Jesus in the Gospels
Read slowly. Ask: “What does this show me about God’s heart?”

✅ Let Scripture Interpret Scripture
Don’t pick and choose. Hold together God’s love, holiness, justice, mercy, patience, and power. Jesus does.

✅ Ask the Spirit to Reveal the Truth
Pray, “Open my eyes to who You truly are. Strip away distortions. Show me Your glory.”

✅ Test All Things

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God…” — 1 John 4:1
Test teachings, emotions, experiences—do they align with the Jesus of the Scriptures?

6. Fruit: You Can Tell by the Reflection

“By their fruit you will recognize them.” — Matthew 7:16
If your image of God leads to:

• Pride instead of worship
• Cruelty instead of mercy
• Fear instead of intimacy
• Self-righteousness instead of dependence
  Then it is time to repent—not just of actions, but of how we have imagined God.

Summary: A Faith Formed by Revelation, Not Imagination

To seek the God of self-revelation is to:

• Submit our ideas to His truth
• Look to Jesus as the interpretive center of who God is
• Be transformed rather than affirmed
• Resist the temptation to create a god in our image

Because only the real God saves, and only the real Jesus transforms.

“Now this is eternal life: that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.” — John 17:3