Throughout my Christiandom I have spent many years going to Sunday school, Bible studies, and church services. Generally speaking I have approached each of those meetings with an educational mentality. I came with Bible in hand; ready to take notes on topics that would increase my knowledge. I don’t even think I had a concept of relationship with God. He was this distant God that I was learning about the same way an astronomer studies the stars. While knowledge of God and his design for us is important, relationship is the key to life with him.
God is blowing my mind in revealing what a relationship with him can and should look like. He has met me where I am, to hold my hand and show me his ways. Astounding.
You should read Ezekiel 16. I’d try to summarize it, but I think it does a better job of explaining itself. At first glance it made me feel sad. God was calling out all my crap and it left me feeling guilty. BUT at second, third, and fourth glances it screamed redemption in my face. (If you still haven’t read it, I’d recommend you do! Now!)
God is a jealous God. We spend so much time directing our love and energy toward empty pursuits. All the while God is standing with arms wide open watching us break his heart as we cheat on him. This IS indicative of the relationship we are to have with God. If you love someone with everything that is within you, the last thing you want to do is hurt them. This makes perfect sense in the natural world in relationship with family or friends, but why is it so hard to grasp when it comes to relationship with God?
I have finally allowed God to get my attention. He has wooed me. I am beginning to understand what this redeeming love truly is. He loves me, and I desperately long to be deeply in love with him. Because I love him, I don’t want God to spend my whole life jealous.
