Just as a little child plays in the sandbox with his little shovel and plastic pail and all his toys, so are we when we try to act mature and build our systems and subcultures and new ways of doing and saying things about God. But the reality is that, just like the little child in the sandbox, all we can hope to do is imitate our Father and be somewhat like Him. For we will never be God. And we can accomplish nothing apart from Him because He alone has true ability and Power, and true words of Life that emanate from and are carried along by His Holy Spirit and His burning Anointing / Charisma.
In the beginning, God created us in His image. So from the beginning we see that God wants us to become like Him and be affiliated with Him. In Jesus Christ we become brand new adopted children of God. Yet, even if we become more like God, we will never become God. God is Holy. And Holy means set apart and unlike any other. God is Holy and we, though born again, will never be Holy in the same sense that God is Holy. God has never at any time sinned, something we can never boast.
In our love for God, and in our worship of God, we set Him apart in our hearts because He is unlike any other. We give to God something we will never give to any other. And we guard, in our hearts and in our words and in our passion, the Holiness of God: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. In our deep love and commitment and devotion and even in our jealousy for God, we are always and ever vigilant to never liken anyone or anything to God. No man or exalted being or power or angel or any other thing in heaven or earth or creation even begins to come close to being like God. And we use no language that could give anyone any impression that there is another God or men who have transcended to become like God (e.g. “God-men”).
God alone is God. If we happen to become His children and partake of His Life and nature through Jesus, then still, God alone is God and we are not to use fancy words and mind tricks to think or suggest to ourselves or anyone that we are God (or “God-men”).
I say again that God is Holy. He is unlike any other. There is none other beside Him. God alone is to be worshipped. God alone is to be set apart in the hearts of men. God alone is to be feared and followed. Men are to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God alone. We must get this one thing correct before we go on to any other topic or teaching. God alone is God.
In this example from the book of Acts we see the apostles preventing others from mistaking the apostles for God:
“When the multitude saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voice, saying in the language of Lycaonia, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” They called Barnabas “Jupiter,” and Paul “Mercury,” because he was the chief speaker. The priest of Jupiter, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, and would have made a sacrifice along with the multitudes. But when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of it, they tore their clothes, and sprang into the multitude, crying out, “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to the living God, who made the sky and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them; who in the generations gone by allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. Yet he didn’t leave himself without witness, in that he did good and gave us rains from the sky and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” -Acts 14:11-17
Though God may have revealed deep secret spiritual things to a man; though a man may have been caught up to the third heaven and seen things that are not lawful to speak of…even so, that man is still a man and is not God. As the apostle Paul said:
“For if I would desire to boast, I will not be foolish; for I will speak the truth. But I forbear, so that no man may account of me above that which he sees in me, or hears from me.” –2 Corinthians 12:6
“For I say, through the grace that was given me, to every man who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think reasonably, as God has apportioned to each person a measure of faith.” –Romans 12:3
Follow God, study God, hallow and worship God alone, set God alone apart in your heart. There will never be another like God. God Himself loves you. Draw near to God alone and He will draw near to you. When you do this, you are setting yourself apart unto God in the midst of a world that ignores and despises God, and in that sense you will make yourself holy as He is holy. But you will never be God.
“Keep back / abstain from the external or outward appearance/form of evil. ” — 1 Thessalonians 5.22