Y.A.P.

The God of the Bible is infinite, personal, and triune. As a communion of three Persons, one of God’s purposes in creating us is to display the glory of His being and attributes to intelligent moral creatures who are capable of responding to His relational initiatives. That which can be known of God—His attributes and the glory of His being—has been clearly displayed through the creation of the world, so that mankind is “without excuse” (Rom. 1:19–21).  

I have heard some say we are only animals, higher on the food chain than others, distinguished by our thumbs. Others say we are all thumbs, indicating our inability to function properly. In the paragraph above the author writes, "... who are capable of responding to his relational initiatives." In this morning's paper there is an article about Facebook Church. Do you think this is a response to God's relational initiatives?  

We resist God's attributes and the glory of his being by refusing to make time and space for the things of God. What is there about being still that we resist? Why is it so difficult? Why do we run to our gadgets to escape the quiet and then complain about wanting to flee the rat race?

Are you seeking God? If so, you must learn to be still. You must learn to take time to reflect and consider. A great lie is thinking we are too busy to make time for God. It is a matter of choice. You lie to yourself when you say you do not have time. It is a conscious and intentional choice. Can God call you friend if you are never willing to spend time with the Lord?

In spite of human rebellion and sin against the Person and character of the Lord, Christ bore the awesome price of our guilt and inaugurated “a new and living way” (Hebrews 10:20) by which the barrier to personal relationship with God has been overcome. “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:9–10).

Do you think God sent Jesus to this world so we could pay tithes to the church, attend faithfully once a week, maybe volunteer for this or that ministry, sing with the worship team? Are we even more stellar if in addition to the above we belong to a church small group where we encourage and pray for one another? Do we draw closer to God by praying for our children and our friends? Is this what being a Christian, no, is this what being a follower of Christ is all about? Is there more?

Since God is the initiator of a loving relationship with us, our high and holy calling is to respond to His offer. Our Lord, in encapsulating the Law and the Prophets, gave us the essence of this response: “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ ” (Matthew 22:37–39).

The quality of our vertical relationship with God has a direct bearing on the quality of our horizontal relationships with others. As we grow in His grace, we will have an enhanced capacity, through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, to respond to others with the Christlike qualities of humility, gentleness, patience, and forbearance (Ephesians 4:2). This agape, which we receive from the Lord and which flows through us toward others, is rooted in volition (our willingness to receive and display it) and is expressed through thinking and feeling in the deeds of other-centered love.

Jesus said upon these two principles; loving God and loving one another, all of the prophets, the Torah, the Ten Commandments, everything rests. How can we possibly love those who disrespect and despise us if we don't take on the nature of Christ himself? (Matthew 22:40)

Another way of summarizing our calling and purpose as followers of Christ is to love God completely, to love self correctly, and to love others compassionately.

Loving God completely is a growth process that involves the personal elements of communication and response. By listening to the Holy Spirit in the words of Scripture and speaking to the Lord in our thoughts and prayers, we move in the direction of knowing Him better. The better we know Him, the more we will love Him, and the more we love Him, the greater our willingness to respond to Him in trust and obedience. 

Do you know those who only call when they want something? After a while how does that make you feel? Do you know those who only want to talk about themselves? After forty five minutes or so how does that make you feel? Do we really want to have a conversation with God or are we only interested in a monologue? Do you think God has anything to say to us?

To love ourselves correctly is to see ourselves as God sees us and to allow the Word, not the world, to define us by telling us who and whose we really are. The clearer we capture the vision of our new identity in Christ, the more we will realize that our deepest needs for security, significance, and satisfaction are met in Him and not in people, possessions, or positions.

We have read this so much we have become deaf to it. Do you ever sit alone and try to unwrap scripture for yourself or are you content to have others tell you what it says, what it means, how it applies to your life and your relationships? If so, is your so called Christian relationship with God or your pastor and teachers?

A biblical view of our identity and resources in Christ moves us in the direction of loving others compassionately. Grasping our true and unlimited resources in Christ frees us from bondage to the opinions of others and gives us the liberty to love and serve others regardless of their response.

Despite our denials, most of us are sensitive to the opinions of others. We shrug our shoulders, build and hide behind our walls and go on as if the arrows fall harmlessly off our back, but they don't. The only way to be truly free is when we begin to understand who we are in Christ; who sent us, who sustains us and who rewards us.

Since we cannot serve two masters, the focus of our heart will either be the temporal or the eternal. If it is the temporal, we cannot love God completely because of a divided heart. When Christ is a component instead of the center of life, (Mark 4:19). If the focus of our heart is the eternal, we will love Christ above His created goods and pleasures and begin to fulfill the enduring purpose for which we were created.   

Kenneth Boa, Handbook to Prayer : Praying Scripture Back to God (Atlanta: Trinity House, 1997, c1993).

Is God the center of our life or is God a component of our life? Is God all or a part? Is God a Sunday only, church only, ministry only God? Is this why we don't see the power of God moving in our own lives more? The world and we ourselves are right to ask, "If there are so many Christians why isn't there change in direction, why aren't we leaning into God instead of pulling away? 

If There Are So Many Christians Why Aren't Our Relationships Better?