God Doesn’t Need Your Apology

God is not safe. He never has been. And the sooner we stop apologizing for that truth, the sooner we’ll recover what our hearts most deeply need a holy God who can shake us from our apathy, convict us of sin, and draw us into real worship.

You don’t have to read far into the book of Ezekiel to feel it. The God revealed there is not tame, predictable, or manageable. He commands prophetic street theater, speaks in terrifying visions, roars like a lion, and shakes nations with His justice. But in the same breath, He promises to dwell with His people and even put His Spirit within them. He is incomprehensibly holy, yet shockingly near. This is the God we were made to know not the sanitized, shrink-wrapped version we’ve often tried to make palatable for modern sensibilities.

It’s time we stop trying to domesticate the God of the Bible. Because when we do, we don’t just rob Him of His majesty we lose everything that matters: worship, holiness, mission, relevance, and even joy.

You Can’t Tame a Lion

As Drew Dyck puts it in his book Yawning at Tigers, “You can’t tame God, so stop trying.” God is good, but He is not safe (Revelation 5:5). He is love, but His love burns with holiness. He is merciful, but He is also just. He forgives, but He also disciplines. He draws close, but He never compromises His glory.

Modern Christianity, especially in the West, often tries to smooth out the rough edges of God’s character. We skip over the passages where He judges nations or demands blood. We tiptoe around themes of wrath or holiness. We highlight love and acceptance while whispering about sin and repentance. The result? A god who’s more pet than King.

But the God of Scripture does not play by our rules (Romans 9:20). He doesn’t owe us explanations. He makes mountains tremble, nations bow, and angels cover their faces. If we’re not at least a little afraid of Him, we haven’t truly seen Him.

When We Apologize for God, We Lose Everything

The cost of downplaying God’s holiness and transcendence isn’t minor it’s devastating. Here are five specific ways it bankrupts our faith.

1. It Destroys Our Worship

Worship flows from awe. When we diminish God’s majesty, our praise becomes thin and hollow. If God is just a nicer version of us, why sing to Him? Why fall on our faces? Why tremble with joy?

Isaiah fell apart in God’s presence (Isaiah 6:5). John collapsed like a dead man before the risen Christ (Revelation 1:17). True worship begins when we realize God is not like us and loves us anyway. Only then can His mercy take our breath away.

2. It Weakens Our Holiness

A low view of God leads to a low standard of holiness. When we stop trembling at His commands, we stop obeying them. We redefine sin. We shrug at sexual compromise. We make peace with pride. But Scripture insists, “Be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16).

Without reverence, obedience becomes optional. But when we see God as He is majestic, consuming, pure we begin to long for purity ourselves. Not out of fear, but out of love for the One who is worthy.

3. It Paralyzes Our Mission

A weak god produces weak witnesses. When we’re not gripped by God’s greatness, we won’t be moved to go. But when we see Him as the all-powerful Lord of heaven and earth, mission becomes our joy.

Isaiah, trembling before the throne, didn’t just repent he volunteered. “Here I am! Send me” (Isaiah 6:8). God’s holiness didn’t crush his mission it ignited it.

If our gospel doesn’t include God’s holiness and justice, it’s not good news it’s half a message. The world needs the whole gospel a holy God, a crucified Savior, and a call to repentance and life.

4. It Silences Our Global Witness

As the American church flirts with irreverence and entertainment, the global church is exploding in places where God's majesty is feared and honored. In China, Africa, South America, the Spirit is moving powerfully. And the common denominator? Reverence.

In many parts of the world, Christians still tremble at the name of Jesus. They still believe He is King. They still preach the God of Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Revelation not a watered-down, cultural god. If we want to see revival, we need to recover that same awe.

5. It Kills Our Relevance

Ironically, trying to make God more “relevant” by softening His holiness makes Him irrelevant. People don’t need a god who’s just like them. They need a God who is bigger than their fears, deeper than their wounds, and stronger than their sins.

As Dyck puts it, “People are thirsty for transcendence.” They may not know how to say it, but their souls are starved for glory. Not the fake kind the real kind. And only the real God can satisfy that thirst.

God Is Dangerous and That’s Good News

We should stop being embarrassed by the hard passages in Scripture. Yes, God judges. Yes, He commands total allegiance. Yes, He struck Uzzah for touching the ark (2 Samuel 6:7). But He also weeps over our sin, dies in our place, and invites us into eternal joy.

The cross is the clearest picture of who God is holy enough to demand justice, loving enough to pay it Himself.

As followers of Christ, we must stop apologizing for the parts of God that make us uncomfortable. Because it’s precisely His dangerous, untamed holiness that makes His grace so amazing. If He were not terrifying, His mercy wouldn’t be breathtaking. If He were not powerful, His gentleness would be unimpressive. If He were not righteous, His forgiveness would mean nothing.

We Need the Real God

God does not need PR help. He’s not asking us to make Him more marketable. He is who He is (Exodus 3:14). Our job is not to edit Him, but to proclaim Him.

Let’s stop trying to leash the Lion of Judah. Let’s preach the whole counsel of God. Let’s worship in awe. Let’s walk in holiness. Let’s go into all the world with boldness.

And let’s remember when we finally stand before Him, we won’t be giving clever theological critiques. We’ll be on our faces, crying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.”

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