Children's Story: "Owning" God

"Owning" God

Hi kids! Can you own God? [Wait for responses.]

Where does God live? [Wait for a few responses.]

Churches are often called "houses of God." Does God live inside a church? Does God live in this building? [See Acts 7:48, 17:24.]

So where does God live? [Wait for a few responses.]

People who lived long time ago often believed that gods lived in special places. These places may have been things like furniture, rocks, trees, houses, or temples. Idols were thought of as places where a god lived.

Because they thought a god could live in things and buildings, they thought they could own gods. Even though gods were powerful, the people believed that by doing just the right things and by giving just the right offerings, the gods could be made to do what the people wanted.

Some of these people believed that there were many gods and each god had power over a small section of the world. They believed that when a person left one god's section of the world, they would have to worship the god controlling the next section if they wanted to be safe and prosperous.

Some of these people thought that by carrying objects that were special to their god, they could carry a piece of their god around, even if they were traveling in an area controlled by, what they thought, was a different god.

Even the ancient Israelites, the nation that eventually became the Jews and the Samaritans, thought this way. There was a time when the army asked for a special furniture item in their church to be brought out because they thought God lived in this furniture and would help them. (It turns out that God didn't help them in this case.) They were commanded to bring their offerings to their temple, because that is where they believed God was present in a special way. When their temple was destroyed, they thought God had left them because they believed that God had to have a place to live.

The Jews and Samaritans during the years that Jesus was on earth also believed something like this. The Jews thought that they could only worship in Jerusalem because they believed that was where God lived. The Samaritans thought the proper place of worship was a mountain called Mount Gerizim, because that was a special place where in past history, God often associated himself.

But Jesus came and told us that where we worship isn't nearly as important as the attitude we have when we worship. Jesus told us that we can worship anywhere as long as we want to have God come meet with us.

After Jesus went back to heaven, a person named Stephen and a person named Paul said that God doesn't live in temples and things made by people. Paul also said that when we choose to become God's person, we become his temple and the Holy Spirit, who is God, comes to live in us.

When we choose to become God's person and the Holy Spirit lives in us, we become able to really worship God.

Many people worship God because they think they have to, or because they're afraid of him. Many people think, like the people of long ago, that by worshiping God in just the right way, they can control him. But people who have the Holy Spirit living in them worship God because they love him. They worship God because they are thankful for all the help God gives in living life.

Jesus said that God is looking for people who worship him because they love him with all their hearts. Do you want to be that kind of person?