It took me a few years to realize that being a Christian is not so much about tip-toeing and making sure you do not cross a line as much as it is suppose to be about having a relationship with our Father. Truth is, us as a human race cannot follow rules. As Romans 3:23 tells us, we are all sinners. And God knows this. God understands this fact about us that He ended up sending His ONLY son to die for us so that He could cover our sins. "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit" 1 Peter 3:18 (NKJV). Jesus died so that we could be closer to God. As long as we are covered in sin, we could not have a relationship with God. Isaiah 59:2 explains this when it says "But your iniquities have separated you from your God;" (NKJV). Sin gets in the way of us having a relationship with God. Before Jesus, as he hung on the cross, even cries out to God, saying " 'Eli Eli, lama sabachthani?' that is, ' My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?'" (Matt. 27:46, NKJV). God could not even have a relationship with Jesus, His only son. At this point, as Jesus was carrying the sins of the world (John 1:29), Jesus died so that we could have a relationship with our Father, His Father.
Webster defines relationship as "the relation connecting or binding participants in a relationship". For a further definition on relation, Webster defines it as "an aspect or quality (as resemblance) that connects two or more things or parts as being or belonging or working together or as being of the same kind". We are told in the Bible that we are created in the "likeness of God" Genisis 5:1, NKJV. God created us in His image (Gen. 1:27), I don't think we could get any closer to having a relation with God than being like Him. God did not have to create us in His image, He did not have to make us anything like Him. The fact that God wanted us to be in His image, and then sent His son to die for us, that sends us a clear message that God wants to know us. He wants a relationship with us. If this was not so, we would not be called "Children of God" (Rom. 8:16). What child doesn't want a relationship with their father? And what Father does not want a relationship with their child?
If God did not want a relationship with us, He would not ask us to pray (Matt. 6:6-8), call upon Him (Psalms 145:18), ask for forgiveness (Matt. 6:12) and give thanks to Him (1 Cor. 16:8). God would not ask these things of us, He would not ask us to communicate with Him, if He did not want a relationship with us. God wants us to reach out to Him, to need Him, and to talk to Him. How can we not have a relationship yet do all of these things? How can we do these things and not think that He wants a relationship with us?
Once I discovered that Jesus dying for my sins not only gave me a second chance at life (Ephesians 4:22-24), but also a chance to be able to have a relationship with the one true God, my whole faith changed.
When you obey your parents because you have to, you follow the rules because it's an obligation. Yet, if you have a relationship with your parents, you are more willing to obey or to try to please them because there is a connection there. There is a bond that means more than just boundaries of how you should and should not act. You want to please. That is how it is when you have a relationship with God. Once I realized that God wanted a relationship with me, it became less about what I could and could not do, and more about me wanting to please Him.
God wants to know us. The question is are you ready to know Him?
I LOVE this post!!! As the mama who taught you inadvertantly, that Christianity was a checklist, well I praise God that He has freed us both from that deception! Great post, Mel!
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