Picture this for a moment. A slide showing your face pops up on the overhead projector to an empty room. One chair is occupied and it’s God Himself. What do you think is going through God’s mind when He sees your face?

Disappointment. That’s often times the knee-jerk reaction I assume God feels when He sees me. How we relate to God and ourselves does not determine how God sees and relates to us. We’ve talked about this a lot, if the Bible is true, then we believe that there is also an enemy out there that will lie and cheat and do anything he can to distort our view of God.

What’s the word for you? Is it loved, do you think God’s proud of you, or is he an upset coach, rolling His eyes because you made the same mistake for the 23rd time? See, we need to be especially careful that we don’t allow our experience with this broken world to be the leading indicator to our view of who God is.

Our only way to ensure protection from this slippery slope is to know His character and His nature – what He’s truly like. “But God demonstrates His own love for us (you and I) in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Sin has separated us from God because He is holy – set apart, perfect. But there’s something about you and I where He says, “they are so worth it to Me, that even though they’re presently on the other side, I’m going to willingly lay my life down for them.” God loves you like that.

God’s character is good. He came to show us the way and give us abundant life (John 10:10). He calls us to pray – to talk to Him. And here’s the beautiful thing, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before His eyes, and He is the one to whom we are accountable” (Hebrews 4:13).

God desires for you to talk to Him. Shame will try to convince us that God is no longer interested, or that if He ever found out about that thing He’d change the way He feels about us. We just read that God already knows the thing you’re hiding, your honest thoughts – and He is still relentlessly pursuing you and desires to hear from you.

What great news! If God’s good, He wants us to talk to Him, and this is still true as He already knows our deepest secrets, then there is no safer place for us to go with our regrets and our shame and our dreams and our desires.

I want to encourage you, friend, to take that word from the exercise to God in prayer and to the Bible to see if it matches up to what we know God’s character and nature to truly be like. There is an enemy who desperately desires for you to continue forward with a view of God that’s nothing like God at all.

Is God disappointed with me? No, God is filled with a love so deep for me that He went all the way to the cross. He loves you like that too. Today, take a minute to ask God in the quietness of your own heart, “God, what comes to mind for You when You think of me.” Grab a journal and write down what comes up. God doesn’t see as we see. He is faithful, willing, and ready to reveal His heart for you. And He’ll do it even right now, in Jesus’ name.