I am still amazed that God placed such a high priority on our relationship with Him. But He did and still does. I couldn’t say it louder – our relationship with Him is important. Part of the understanding about relationships can be seen in how God over and over establishes and re-establishes relationships with us. Being who He is, a just and impartial judge, then our behavior when we break relationship has to be resolved and restored. It never is us who re-establishes the connection – God is the one who provides us a way back. Eventually there had to be an ultimate restoration and the answer: the spotless lamb, Jesus.
God provided the answer and our part is simply to accept Him as our answer to re-establishing relationship. Accepting Jesus may seem like a little thing but it really is everything. Thankfully, we do not need to pay the debt for our sin, nor could we, Jesus paid it for us. And it was finished. Yes, man still does sin but we still have the way back through that relationship. Our part is to accept who Jesus was/is and what He provided for us. Simple. But it is the most difficult act for a great number of people.
So… what does ‘relationship’ look like when we’re talking about with God? Actually I believe it is similar to our relationship with one another. It includes spending time with the other person (God), talking with them, etc. Relationship is more than just prayer – though that is part of it. A significant component, at least for me, is worship. But the biggest component, for me, is simply talking with God – being alert to what He shares in the moment and listening. My contention is that we are always talking at God but rarely do we take the time to be still and listen.
It can be logically extended that if relationship was important to God then it seems like our relationships with one another would also be critical. No one enjoys it when two people are arguing and fighting, and I think it makes God sad when we treat each other this way. I believe that a good relationship is marked by the desire to want the best for the other person. Thus, how we treat one another marks our beliefs about interrelationships.
While all I’ve said sounds frightfully simple. It is. And that’s the point. If you really want to be involved with making God happy then you need to have an active relationship with Him.
…but, what do you think?
