I get a little tired of religion sometimes.
Wait. Let me rephrase that. I get a little tired of religiosity sometimes. All
those rules and regulations. All the clutter and complexities we add to His
beautiful simplicity. I would guess God gets a little tired of it too.
I apologize, if that offends anyone.
Honestly, I do. It’s just that I am
pretty sure God majors in relationship, rather than religion. I think the
Designer of the Universe, who is the only wholly Holy One, is more concerned with
- our adoration than our denomination
- our attention than our invention
- our devotion than our decorum
- our lives than our liturgy
- our reverence than our rituals
- and our souls than our statutes.
It’s not that God doesn’t care
about correctness. Surely, He is honored when we wholeheartedly offer Him the
best we have and the highest standards we can give. But maybe His calling
begins in a much more basic place.
“For
where two or three gather in My name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18:20,
NIV)
God is all about relationship.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism
puts the idea succinctly:
Q: What is the
chief end of man?
A: Man’s chief
end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.
I love that. It’s so simple. God
made us to glorify Him and to enjoy Him eternally. He created man for
relationship with Him. That’s why God designed man in His own image (see Genesis 1:27).
God is holy and sovereign and high
above all. But He also makes Himself accessible, bending to relate to us. How
cool is that?
Here’s one of the greatest mysteries of God.
God is three-in-one: Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit. How can the Lord be three and one at the same time?
Theologians have debated, deliberated, and dreamed about this for millennia.
Maybe we’ll never fully grasp this concept on this side of Heaven.
Still, one thing is certain: God is relational. It’s who He is. Even His Personhood models relationality.
We can cry out to the Holy One in
the simplest of terms, and He will relate to us. Then, if we want to dress up
our devotion to honor Him in more ornate ways, He accepts our best efforts. It’s
all about attitude and heart and … you guessed it … relationship.
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To answer your question:
ReplyDelete"Way cool!"
I like your theme for the A/Z challenge. We could go through the alphabet many a time and still not completely know his character, don't you think?
ReplyDeleteBut so true, he is relational. He chose to have a relationship with us, and definitely he wants it to be a two sided relationship; he wants to talk to us as much as listen to us and he wants us to listen to him as much as we talk to him. I often forget that part. I tend to pray a lot and forget to take the time to listen to what he may be saying.
betty
http://viewsfrombenches.blogspot.com/