Pastor's Circle - Father Albert Haase on "The Image of God"

In your counseling and your dealings with people, is there something you've noticed that prevents people from understanding God?

In my teachings, just recently I had the rare opportunity to speak at the Moody Bible Institute.  One of the things I was telling Moody was that a lot of people have unhealthy images of God. When we have that, it's going to affect everything about how we relate to God.

When we are continually fearful and frightened, we really haven't encountered the Abba Father that Jesus has proclaimed to us.

A lot of us lose precious time in spiritual formation because we're spending too much time cowering in the corner rather than immersing ourselves in God's love.

Is it possible to go the other way?

That's also a great little trick of the Devil. Paul reminds us that the Devil can disguise himself as an angel of light.

That's where the whole thing of the ego comes in. E-G-O, ease God out.

When God is there with the teachings I have received from the Christian tradition, that's how we're called to live being authentic followers of Christ.

When you're talking about people who have no interest in the light, there's nothing you can do about them.

I'm talking about people who are committed to the Christian life.

I always remind people that you have to monitor yourself, because the devil and the ego are very slippery things.

How is it possible to get a healthy image of God

Immerse yourself in scripture. Scripture is a critical companion for all of us, because it's in scripture that we see this whole wonderful image of who God is. We read Scripture not just to feel good, but to be challenged. The power of scripture is that it challenges your conscience and shapes your heart.

As we come to know this Father, then all of the sudden our lives begin to take a whole different course

How we think about God is critical in terms of how we live.

You are a former missionary to China. What is the image of God to the Christian in China?

For someone in China to become a Christian, they're going against their culture.

But one of things that the Chinese are ahold of is that we are born as a group. When they read in Scripture that we are brothers and sisters, they get it! One of the great gifts that they bring is that our God is a Father, not just to us, but to an entire family.