‘God is love.’
‘God is big.’
‘God is everywhere.’
‘God is us.’
‘God is dead.’
‘I have no idea.’

What is God like? What would you say if someone were to ask you?

The typical response would probably be something like, “I’m not sure.” And, of course, with that response would come an air of indifference. Like it’s not that important. Like you have more important things to do and my question has interrupted your day.

But what if what you think about God, what I think about God, what you believe about God, what I believe about God….represents the axis on which our lives turn? What if that were true, not just for a Christian or a Jew, but for the Atheist, the Agnostic, the guy who ‘just hasn’t given it that much thought?’ What if it filtered into everything about our life’s journey?

In the midst of constant sleep deprivation and errands and business and shopping and watching movies and eating dinner, many of us (myself included) feel as though we’re too tired to think about it. We believe that thinking about this question should only take place when our minds are fully attuned, perhaps in some locked, sterile room with no doors or windows. Or perhaps in some monastary in the middle of nowhere, with nothing to do but spend months contemplating it. As for now, we’ve got too much of the real world going on to worry about it.

But here’s the thing – the real world never goes away. It will always be there, trying to fill our lives up with business and pettiness and a myriad of activities, all of which pale in significance to this.

Some people disagree with me on this point. Some people wonder why these ‘religious crazies’ make such a big deal out of it. After all, it’s all conjecture anyway. We’ll never really know where we came from…

But it does make a difference! If I truly believe that “in the beginning, God made the heavens and the earth,” that “God so loved the world that he sent is only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life”….

If I truly believe that, how can it not be significant? I would suggest that your belief system, whatever it may be, should serve as the foundation, the groundwork on which every aspect of your life is framed. That means for me, the belief that God created me and loves me and wants more than anything in the world for me to wake up and pursue a relationship with him…should impact the way I act at work, the way I interact with my friends, how I spend my free time, how I spend my money, how I eat, how I treat the environment, what my political leanings are, how I treat my spouse….everything.

I’m not saying my belief is right (well, maybe I am a little.) But I am saying that you need to stop pretending like your belief about who you are and where you come from and why you exist belongs in the periphery. It should be the very DNA on which your thoughts, your actions, your life is constructed from.

Otherwise, you’re not living. You’re keeping yourself in a perpetual state of daydreaming, filling your life up with enough things to keep your mind off of the big important question that hounds you when the lights are out and there’s no one else around.

It really is that important.

So what is God to you?