
In 2014, the ice bucket challenge went viral on social media to raise awareness and funds for the ALS foundation, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.
Participants would:
Dump a bucket of ice water over their heads.
Film it and post it on social media.
Nominate three other people to do the same within 24 hours.
Those nominated had to either do the challenge or donate to ALS research (many did both).
The Challenge:
Raised awareness and funds for ALS.
Generated over $220 million in donations worldwide.
The ALS Association received $115 million in donations during just 8 weeks, leading to significant advances in ALS research, including the discovery of new genes linked to the disease.
As we begin a new year, I would like to propose a challenge to raise awareness of the truth about God. With over 4,000 religions in the world, there is a lot of confusion about God’s character.
So here is the Challenge:
Step #1: Take your ice bucket of preconceived ideas about God and dump it out.
Step #2: Fill the bucket during 2025 with fresh pictures of God. Start your journey by making a commitment to read the gospels (first four books of the New Testament). I recommend starting with the gospel of John. Take your time and take a good look at the life of Jesus. How did He relate to God? What picture of God did He see? Look at how He interacted with and treated people. You see, Jesus’ mission was to reveal the truth about the character of God. As you look at His story, ask yourself the simple question: What does the Jesus story reveal to me about what God is like?
Remember this: How you see God is how you see yourself and those around you.
There was a king of Israel named David who loved to write poetry about his life experiences with God and turn them into songs. In Psalms 27, verse 4, he said this:
One thing I have asked of the LORD, and that I will seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD [in His presence] all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty [the delightful loveliness and majestic grandeur] of the LORD and to meditate in His temple. (AMP).
Pray: Lord, I choose to accept the invitation to live in Your presence.
Make a commitment to seek God's presence daily. The Hebrew word for "seek" has multiple meanings and is expressed by two different words:
Baqash (בָּקַשׁ): Means to seek to find and take hold of something.
Darash (דָּרַשׁ): Means to search, investigate, or inquire.
Be intentional about finding time in your day, even if it’s just for 5, 10, or 15 minutes. To search, investigate, find, and take hold of the beautiful picture of God. Choose to make a commitment. If you don’t, life will just swallow you up. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while you are hoping for a change.
Choose to gaze upon the beauty [the delightful loveliness and majestic grandeur] of the LORD. The word gaze means to “fix the eyes in a steady intent look often with eagerness or studious attention.” In a spiritual sense, the eyes are not our physical eyes but the eye of the mind, our ability to perceive or discern. As you look at the life of Jesus, remember to ask yourself the question: What do I see in His life? What characteristics does He reveal in this story? What does this story or teaching show me about God, who He is? Gaze upon it, resist the temptation to pass it by like scrolling on social media. Develop the habit of gazing; it will change your life. How you see God is how you will see yourself and will reflect on how you see others.

While David would gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, he would meditate on it. Choose to develop the habit of meditation on what you are seeing. This is where we get our English word “ruminate” from. Cows ruminate while eating. They chew their food, swallow it, and, well, you know, it’s kind of gross, but they chew it again and swallow it again. They do this to obtain maximum nutrition from their food. So, as you gaze upon the beauty of God, develop the habit of processing it in your mind. Take time to process the story, grabbing every gem. Think of it this way: it’s like opening your favorite fruit and biting into one of the best-tasting fruits ever. Meditation is opening the beauty of God and tasting something so beautiful you never thought possible.
Accept: What you SEE OF GOD as your very own. God is speaking to you individually. Choose to embrace it as your very own. Imagine God making you a promise and then putting out His hand to shake yours, but you have to make a choice. Will you extend your hand and accept His gift or hold back? As you read your Bible, you will find thousands of promises from God to you. Choose to accept them and experience life to the fullest.
Rest in the daily rhythm of being fully known and fully loved by God. Every day when you wake up, look into the mirror, pinch yourself on the cheek, and thank God for loving you. “Let not the consciousness of your entire unworthiness keep you, dear reader, from believing that God has said concerning you.”* Live each day resting in who God is and what He thinks about you.
So, will you accept the 2025 Discover God challenge and start the new year dumping out that ice bucket of pre-conceived ideas about God and SEE life and God with new eyes? Make your commitment by clicking the like button and sharing this blog with three friends.
Our team at Loveshaped Life is here to help you in your journey. We are offering a digital copy of our book, Secrets for a Loveshaped Life. You can also subscribe and receive a weekly inspirational e-mail, along with updates on our latest podcasts, blogs, courses, etc.

Bob is also a spiritual wellness coach, author, and pastor. He’s a happy husband, and the father of two beautiful teenage children. His goal in life is to see, experience, and live God’s radical love and help others do the same.
*George Mueller, The Life of Trust, pg 236
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