Reflections on the Relationship
As Christians, most of us believe that the objective of being a Christian is to develop a relationship with Jesus and His Father. What does that mean for us? I believe that we are given the ability to foster relationships with other people as an example of what type of relationship we are supposed to have with Him. What can we learn about our relationships here on earth that we can apply to our relationship with Jesus?
Everyone is Different
When we go about our relationships among other people, we know that each of our relationships with a particular person is going to be different, at least on some level, with everyone else. Each of us have different types of relationships: friendships, family, co-workers, colleagues, classmates, teammates, neighbors, pen pals. If there is such a dynamic in human relationships, should we surprised to see that the individual relationship with God is any less dynamic? I’d definitely argue that the relationship that a pastor has with God is going to be different then the typical Sunday morning Christian. However, it’s not so much an indication of the strength of the relationship, as an approach to that relationship. I know that while I have many lasting friendships that come from my classmates in school, but there are also very strong and meaningful relationships that I have developed through my work experience. So, even though we may approach God differently as men and women, pastors or church-members, Methodists or Baptists; it doesn’t mean that the relationships established through any of these paths have any more or less strength then the others.
Relationships Ask Why
As humans, we base our decisions on who we should have relationships with on how the person could relate to us. We do this by looking at their actions. However, we’re not looking at their actions to see purely what they did, we are looking at everything in a whole to figure out what their guiding principals are, how they came to the decisions that they did, and how important it was to them. We’re looking for the reasons for behavior. When a child gets in trouble in school, once the parent figures out what they did that was unsatisfactory, the first question they usually ask the child is “why did you do that?”. As Christians, it is even more important for us to ask the why question when we are developing this relationship with God. The reason for this is that when we become Christians, we are also joining a group that is scrutinized and persecuted. When we are looking to perform actions under scrutiny, we need to consider that the actions that we perform must be what we believe that God would find appropriate in that situation. If we simply know all of the situations that were put forward in the Bible, then we know what God did in a particular situation, but if this particular situation isn’t in the Bible then we are out of luck. We are called to be instruments of God’s will, but he is not always going to give us a clear sign of what his will is. Therefore, when we are forced to act on his behalf, we have to know why God has done the things that he has done so that we can use the same reasoning to apply to decisions we have to make today. We can have all of the data on the decisions that God has shown us, but if we lack information on why, then that data is not applicable to our lives.
Relationships Have their Own Time
Relationships reveal themselves in their own time. There are couples that have been married for 50 years that are every day discovering new things about each other. The complexity of humans makes it virtually impossible to actually know everything about anyone. When we apply the same principal to a relationship with God, who has existed since the beginning of time, how can we presume to have even a sliver of knowledge about who he is? While this might seem a sad state to be in, we should consider it a blessing and an opportunity. There will never be a point in which we have to say, “I know all there is to know about God”, because he will always surprise us. No matter how far we dig into the personality of God, we will always find something more, and something meaningful in Him. God can’t be entirely explained in a three point sermon; there is an incomprehensible amount of information that we can barely scratch the surface on until we get into heaven with Him and He graces us with understanding beyond what our mortal minds could bear.
Some of the most rewarding times that we have on this Earth are going to be the product of our relationships here. Getting married, having children, retiring, working: all of these things bring joy because of the relationships that go with them. I can’t wait to experience everything that life has in store for me in that regard. Similarly, we should have the same excitement when we are pursuing a relationship with God. He has an infinite amount of discovery and excitement in store for us, if we will try and dig deeper and get to know who he really is.
Comment from Glenna
Time March 10, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Just finished listening to the podcast with a few phone and conversation interruptions. You done good!! Also read your posts re Christian walk. Thanks for sharing your life, journey and struggles with all of us. You’re a joy and blessing.