Bent Frames and Broken Windshields
(Our Distorted View of God)


Have you ever seen a person that is walking around with glasses that are missing an arm, or they have been broken in half and taped backed together just too barely get by? What becomes very evident quickly is the fact that the person’s view of things is obviously obstructed.

It is the same effect to have a crack in your car windshield that affects your visibility. As a matter of fact, it is usually illegal to drive with a crack in your windshield that obstructs your line of sight while driving.

If you happen to chance it and continue to drive, there is a good possibility that the long arm of the law will reach out and touch you.
In the same way that your view can be obstructed by bent frames and broken windshields in life, your view of God the Father can be obstructed and distorted by your experiences.

Believe it or not the things that happen to you and the people you come into contact with have a direct effect on the way that you see God.

Over the last several years, this has been very apparent in my own life and the many people that we have worked with and ministered too.

As a result, of circumstances, situations, and scenarios in each of our lives each of us has formed a concept (either knowingly or unknowingly) of who God the Father is. The problem remains that most of our ideas and images of our Father in Heaven are fractured and the result is a futile attempt at intimacy with the one who has loved you since before the foundation of the world.

In the book Agape Road author Bob Mumford (www.lifechangers.org) speaks to the very heart of this issue:

Nothing in American Society has been more twisted and damaged than the concept of Father. No one in the history of the world has been more misrepresented than God the Father. He is easy to malign, condemn, and speak against because He does not defend himself. However, in the damaging of the concept of Father, our whole society is bereft of security, identity, and belonging. It is urgent that we see the Fatherhood of God restored. This is what Jesus came to do (see John 14:6). (Pg. 29)

It is clear to see the reality of this statement lived out on the stage of everyday life no matter where you turn or who you come into contact with. It is important as a believer to be rooted and grounded in His love so that we can be part of the solution and not the problem of restoring the Fatherhood of God not only in the church, but in the society as a whole.

If this has not gotten your attention quite yet, or maybe you are still in denial, here is another fact bit to shake you awake.

On September 12, 2006 the Chicago Tribune ran a story entitled Study: Americans not losing religion by Manya A. Brachear. Please do not let the title fool you because the heart of the matter is found toward the end of the article.

This was a survey that was conducted over a period of years and was very extensive and thorough in scope and reach. The research team asked questions to a large group of people covering a variety of topics regarding God, His character, and behavior.

They discovered that Americans overwhelmingly had four views of God: Authoritarian, benevolent, critical, and distant. Here is a quote from the article.

A person’s view of God directly affects how an individual sees the world and interacts with others in society, said Byron Johnson, a sociology professor and co-director of the Institute for studies of Religion at Baylor, a Baptist university in Waco, Texas. Catholic and mainline protestant participants opted for a distant God. White Evangelicals or Black Protestant Southerners described God as authoritarian-highly engaged and angry. Midwesterners leaned toward highly engaged but not so angry- a benevolent God.

Here again we see that the concept of the fatherhood of God has been damaged and the Devil has done his best to destroy any clear picture of the Father for many people.

The only way to combat a lie is with the truth. This is why it becomes of the highest importance to renew our minds as believers with the Word and with what the Father is really like.

As our concept of the Father begins to change, and we are able to realize that we are loved and find our security, identity, and belonging in the fact of the Father’s love then we are able to share that truth with others.

This is what Bob Mumford calls the source of society renewal. “When people are able to see through us a Father, who is compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, merciful, truthful, faithful, and forgiving their lives will change. This is and will be the source of society’s renewal.”

Forever ruined by His love,

Jim and Christie Wilbur