We are made for relationship
1 Corinthians 1:8-9
8 who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
2 Corinthians 13:14
14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
1 John 1:3
3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.
The Prodigal Son had a relationship to his father as his son. No matter where he went or what he did, the Prodigal was always his father's son. But the father and son, though related, did not enjoy
fellowship - intimate, loving communion - with each other so long as the son was off living a profligate life in a "far country." There is, then, a difference between mere relationship and fellowship. The former ought to give rise to the latter, but they should never be mistaken for each another. Many are those related to God through Christ who never enjoy fellowship with their Heavenly Father.
No moment spent in My presence is without value. Every moment given Me is precious in My sight and becomes fruitful for the whole Church. It is not a question of quantity, of spending long hours in My presence when the duties of one’s state in life require something else. What I ask instead is the moment of pure adoration and of love offered to Me from a simple, childlike heart.
Psalm 139:1-10
1 O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar.
3 You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all.
5 You have enclosed me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it.
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me.
Where can we be that is outside of God's presence?
When the Christian path is not about becoming perfect.
Jesus said:
Matthew 5:48
48 "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
It is about having a deep loving relationship with the Father.
But, we can't have relationship - or fellowship - with God unless and until we are perfect. This is God's standard for His acceptance of us. Which is why we so desperately need Christ and his perfect righteousness in which we may be clothed. (
Romans 13:14; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Philippians 3:9)
The reality of the infinite love of God can take some getting used to, and understanding its implications can take a lifetime to begin to understand.
1 John 4:16-17
16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
17 By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.
For who can understand or find out on their own of the reality of the true nature of God.
No one. But, while we may not understand
everything about God's love, we can know
what we need to know about it so that we may fully enjoy our Heavenly Father. Full knowledge of God is not essential to walking well with Him. That's a relief, eh?
We are made for relationships. Prayer/mediation/contemplation is the way to deepen our connection to Infinite Love.
These things are definitely essential!
The deeper our relationship with the Lord is, the more it teaches us to trust. Which flows from self-knowledge that having a deep prayer life leads us.
Don't you think God is actually leading us away from self-inspection, from looking inward at ourselves? I can't think of anyplace in the NT where we are told to fix our attention on ourselves. Instead, I read the following in my Bible:
2 Corinthians 3:18
18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
Hebrews 12:2-3
2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Philippians 4:8
8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.
Philippians 3:7-10
7 But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,
9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,
10 that I may know Him...
This deepening love of God, allows our hearts to become more human, the way that the heart of Jesus was completely human.
Oh, dear. Being more human is not God's goal in relating us to Himself but making us more like Jesus Christ:
Romans 8:29
29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;
The "heart" of Christ was divine. He was
God taking on humanity, not the other way 'round. (
Philippians 2:5-8)
There is nothing either in our physical nature or our hearts that is good. We are altogether corrupt, which is why we all so desperately need a Saviour.
Romans 7:18
18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
Romans 8:5-8
5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,
7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,
8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Romans 3:10-12
10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands; no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
Philippians 3:3
3 for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh,
Jeremiah 17:9
9 "The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?
Matthew 15:18-19
18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.
19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.
Proverbs 28:26
26 He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, But he who walks wisely will be delivered.
God's goal in relating with us, then, is NOT that we would achieve self-knowledge, but that we would
die to Self, deny it so that we might find true life in Christ.
Matthew 16:24-25
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
John 12:24-25
24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
Galatians 2:20
20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
When we adore God, we connect with our deepest self, for we are made in the image and likeness of God.
Friend, believers are to connect, not with their deepest selves, but with the One infinitely beyond them who offers to them His life in the Person of His Spirit.
Titus 3:3-7
3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.
4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,
5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Romans 8:9-11
9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
We are made in the image of God, not in order to find God within ourselves, but to be able to look beyond ourselves to our Maker and know Him. We are no more God, in-and-of ourselves, than a painting is the Painter who painted it. The painting contains and reflects something of the Painter - his skill, his style, his interests - but the Painter
himself is not found in the painting. Likewise, while we are made in the
imago dei, we are mere shallow, finite and sin-corrupted reflections of the One who made us.
