Knowing God - John 4:24

(from Pastor)

God is spirit

John 4:24

 

Wanting to know more about "God is spirit" -- Bibilcally -- I searched for the phrase "God is" and "Spirit" in my Bible software. The following phrase popped up:

 

"the spirit of God is in my nostrils."

 

I don't really know what that has to do with "God is spirit," but I wonder if "God is in my nostrils" will make me sneeze.

 

The reason that I'm curious about this phrase is that I have an old friend who keeps telling me, "God is spirit." He's right -- John 4:24 -- but the way he says it sounds almost like one of those mystical New Age mutterings, like, "We are spirit. Therefore, we are part of god's spirit. Thus we are part of God. And essentially all is one."

 

No. Not god is one. God is utterly other!

 

We constantly want to anthropomorphize him -- i.e. make him more human, like a big, old guy with a beard -- and the Bible itself uses anthropomorphic language, but it's only to help us picture what is utterly beyond us. As Solomon used to say, 1 Kings 8:27, "the heavens cannot contain thee."

 

God is more a vapor than a being, and he's more a being than a vapor.

 

He is God. He is real. He is personal. He is everywhere ... and in all things (including, apparently, in my nostrils.)

 

All is not one. God is God. And all else is created and limited.

 

In Christ's Love,

a guy who won't ever

blow his nose again

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God is spirit ... you find freedom through the spirit ... as pastor said recently, "God, I don't understand, but I will trust you."  We may only a tiny bit understand God and the fact that he is spirit and everywhere. I see the spirit like a fog. It envelopes you. Blocks out everything except what is immediately in front of you. God does that. He envelopes us.