In the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, Greece there is a statue group that always attracts a large crowd. Life sized. Three figures. On the right is Pan, the goat-footed satyr. He reaches hungrily toward Aphrodite. She stands (nude) on the left side of the grouping, resisting Pan’s advances and swatting at him with her sandal. Between them is the grinning Eros, the little cherub who was the erotic matchmaker of the ancient world, drawing the two together. The grouping is whimsical, suggestive, and disturbingly “theological.”

The Greeks worshiped a pantheon of gods who were little more than larger versions of themselves. Cruel, capricious, driven by lust and anger and envy, easily offended, deeply proud and self-centered, uncaring, powerful but not compassionate: these were the kinds of gods the Greeks worshiped and feared and worked hard to appease. Greek legends are full of stories about the character and passions, the weaknesses and follies of the Olympian deities. And most of the stories were not pretty. Few of them cause us to view these gods with admiration and respect.

It is when I stand in front of something like the statue grouping just described, when I hear one of those legends or reflect on the religion of the Greeks, that I see with new eyes (and new appreciation) the God I worship. He could have been a God like the ones worshiped in ancient Greece, Rome, Babylon, Egypt, or Palestine. He could have been one of those distant, cold, amoral, ever-on-the-edge-of-taking-offense gods that populate the temples and altars of the ancient world.

Instead, amazingly, we get a charactered God. We get a God who, at his core, is love and holiness. We have a God who is consistent, who holds certain values and acts on them, who is “the same yesterday, today, and forever.” We have a God who loves the truth, honors integrity, and blesses obedience. We have a God who makes promises and keeps them. We have a God who purposes for our good and not our harm. We have a covenant-making and covenant-keeping God. We have a God who is both powerful and humble, timeless and tangible, holy and merciful, principled and patient.

In a word, we have a God who looks like Jesus Christ. Wise, compassionate, humble, winsome, gracious, joyful, patient, gentle, and deeply good. A God who touches lepers and associates with sinners. A God who speaks the truth and offers power for living. A God whose glory shines all the brighter when he takes off eternity and puts on flesh.

And, most wonderful of all, we have a God whose greatest self-revelation, whose most charactered moment, is found in the cross. Ours is no petulant god, pouting and petty and pitiless. This is not a god who balances his wrath on human backs. Ours is not a god who casts us aside when we become inconvenient or distasteful, who vents his rage at our expense, who throws a divine temper tantrum until he gets his way. Our God, driven by love, finds a way to show us mercy. He climbs onto the cross himself. He takes our stripes on his own shoulders. He pays the price for our sins.

Because he is a charactered God. The Greeks could never have imagined such a god. Nor the Romans. Nor any other ancient peoples. The Hebrews would have come closest. They would have known something of our God’s character. But not even they could have guessed how deep it went, how far it would lead him, how much it would do for us.

I stand in front of a statue in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. And even though anatomy is on full display and crowds are pressing, I find myself lost in worship . . . thankful that these gods are not my God . . . grateful that I am not embarrassed by the God I serve . . . filled to overflowing with the sense that I worship a God who is worthy of my praise.

The crowds do not notice my worship. Aphrodite smiles blindly across the centuries that separate us—she does not notice my worship either. But my charactered God notices. He listens to my praise. He breathes in my adoration like a pleasing incense. And he knows that I do not just love him. I actually like him. It feels good to be proud of the God to whom you have given your heart. |L

OTHER COLUMNS:
November 8, 2009 - Why I believe in God
October 25, 2009 - Commuting in days of evil
October 11, 2009 - Poets and don’t know it
September 27, 2009 - How Hollywood proves abortion is wrong
September 13, 2009 - Significance
August 30, 2009 - Dance alternatives
August 16, 2009 - Gluttons for gossip
August 2, 2009 - Truth from Twilight
July 19, 2009 - Visitor-friendly churches
July 5, 2009 - The Shack
June 21, 2009 - When forgiveness fails
June 7, 2009 - Re-imagining Education (Part Six)
May 24, 2009 - We are not alone
May 3, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part five)
April 26, 2009 - Conviction
April 12, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part four)
March 29, 2009 - An evangelistic proposal
March 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part three)
March 1, 2009 - He makes me sick
February 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (Part Two)
February 1, 2009 - Spiritual insecurity
January 18, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part one)
January 4, 2009 - Church and politics
December 21, 2008 - Heaven’s music
December 7, 2008 - The church and marriage
November 23, 2008 - God and the president
November 9, 2008 - A time for courage
October 26, 2008 - Likes and dislikes: the Prince Caspian movie
October 12, 2008 - What’s that noise?
September 28, 2008 - Modesty matters (part two)
September 14, 2008 - All it takes is some TLC
August 31, 2008 - Modesty matters (part one)
August 17, 2008 - What would you fight for?
August 3, 2008 - Staying through the credits
July 20, 2008 - Honor to whom honor
July 6, 2008 - Tyler Perry and the movies you’re missing
June 22, 2008 - The peaceable kingdom
May 25, 2008 - Another generation grew up
May 25, 2008 - Technology and the Bible (part two)
May 11, 2008 - Technology and the Bible (part one)
April 27, 2008 - What is truth?
April 13, 2008 - And the geek shall inherit the earth
March 16, 2008 - The college choice (part two)
March 2, 2008 - Good news can be hard to hear
February 17, 2008 - The college choice (part one)
February 5, 2008 - Ten suggestions for a godly standard of living
January 20, 2008 - Expelled: that “Bueller” guy’s pro-God movie
January 6, 2008 - Choosing a lifestyle
December 23, 2007 - Teachable TV?
December 9, 2007 - Owners or stewards?
November 25, 2007 - Christians teaching Christians to change TV and film
November 11, 2007 - My money is God’s business
October 28, 2007 - Navigating under the radar
October 14, 2007 - The things God values
September 30, 2007 - Movie moments
September 16, 2007 - God’s economics
September 2, 2007 - The best books to read
August 19, 2007 - There’s a rat in ‘separate’
August 5, 2007 - The art of reading
July 22, 2007 - Atheist chic
July 8, 2007 - Why books matter: the sequel
June 10, 2007 - Books: why they matter
June 3, 2007 - The non-impact of “The Lost Tomb of Jesus”
May 27, 2007 - The universal gospel
May 13, 2007 - Loving Muslims through culture
April 29, 2007 - Hope
April 15, 2007 - God in the dark
April 1, 2007 - The gospel goes to the movies
March 18, 2007 - What the Bible movies can teach us
March 4, 2007 - What will you hurt for?
February 18, 2007 - Why Heroes . . .
February 4, 2007 - Give peace a chance
January 21, 2007 - When fairy tales are true
January 7, 2007 - WYSIWYG lives
December 31, 2006 - What’s coming next?
December 17, 2006 - Mercy, mercy
December 3, 2006 - Proof of evolution!
November 19, 2006 - Hungering for God
November 5, 2006 - Violence and government, war and peace
October 22, 2006 - The mighty meek
October 8, 2006 - The Battlestar and the Bible
September 24, 2006 - Soap for the soul
September 10, 2006 - Right vs. cool
August 27, 2006 - The painful truth
August 13, 2006 - More Lies Hollywood Tells
July 30, 2006 - Christian counter culture
July 16, 2006 - The lies Hollywood tells