Is God Jesus?

I was recently watching an episode of ‘The Office.’ It was the one about Michael’s birthday, but more importantly it was about Kevin’s scare with skin cancer. Michael, desperate to redeem his painful memories of birthday rejection, tactlessly forces the entire staff to ‘celebrate’ his special day at the local ice rink while they all anxiously await news from Kevin’s doctor. As Michael body-checks numerous staff members, the call finally comes. The results are ‘negative.’ A sigh of relief comes from everyone except Michael. He’s devastated over Kevin’s ‘negative’ news. The show closes with Michael’s insightful commentary: Isn’t it strange that the word ‘negative’, which means one thing to most of us, would mean the exact opposite in the medical world?

I think that many of us – myself included – are like Michael when it comes to certain words in the theological world. In everyday usage they mean one thing, but when applied to God and his character they mean quite the opposite. Unfortunately, we tend to miss this not so subtle shift in nuance. And the results are catastrophic. We come to the table assuming we know what certain words mean, and we project our assumptions onto our faith and worldview. But in doing so, we misrepresent the true God and distort his purposes for this world.