PERSONALITY

A question popped into my head today: Does God have a personality?

I think the answer is yes and I think it makes a difference to understand God as having a personality.

Of course, his personality is mysteriously immense, multi-faceted, and composed of only good traits. 

If we don't consider God as having a personality, I think we're in danger of missing out on his personhood altogether. We end up imagining some amorphous being who is quite one-dimensional. He might be the cosmic stick-in-the-mud. A distant cloud. The finger-wagging nag. Or the severely disappointed father. 

On the positive side, we might imagine God to be the Santa Claus of the universe. A colossal teddy bear. An overly permissive parent. Or the laid back admirer in the sky.

But if he has a personality, he doesn't really fit into any of those molds.

In John 15:15, Jesus tells his disciples, "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you."

Being friends? With Jesus? With God in the flesh?

That's a radical concept.

And I don't see how you can be friends with Someone who has no personality.