The backpack god is the god we can carry around with us. He's the god we get out when we need him. Aunt Martha is sick and in the hospital, we break out backpack god and say "alright, its your time, heal Aunt Martha." We have a court date and it could determine our future "alright backpack god, you're up." We have a big decision to make "alright backpack god, I'm going to unzip the bag so you can help me on this one."
That god is not the God of the Bible, its the god of our selfishness. Backpack god only exists in our heads, not in our hearts. Its amazing how we treat the true God as backpack god by only inviting Him into our lives when we need Him, when it serves our purposes. Then, when something doesn't turn out our way, we blame God, which is silly, because we only want Him to be part of the areas of our lives that we invite Him into.
We don't want Him mingling in our financial affairs, then we couldn't justify the gossip we spread to get that promotion over our rival. We don't want Him in our marriage, because then, we couldn't be selfish and blame everything on our spouse. We don't want Him challenging our sexual beliefs, because then we would be convicted of our actions. We only want Him when we need Him, but God is not going to pander to our selfish desires. God is going to be God and we either surrender to Him and choose to live with His presence in every area of our lives, or take the chance of living without His presence for eternity.
Doesn't it make sense to let Him be involved in every area of our lives, because if we let Him, He will relate to us with ultimate wisdom, unwavering faithfulness, extravagant love and unconditional grace. That God is so much more real and engaging than backpack God. May you throw away backpack god and embrace the true God who happens to be pursuing you in every area of your life.
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