Since this is the time for my weekly Time for Honesty, I'm just going to cut to the chase. Quick, easy, painless. I promise. Here's what I want to know: Do you have a relationship with God?
Now, before you stop reading, hear me out. Because I'm going to assume that you don't. However, I'm not going to try and convince you of why you're "wrong." Because who says you are?
Most people (myself included) struggle with the idea of a relationship with God. We don't get it. Frankly, it doesn't make sense most of the time. Why would a Being, who created everything, down to the molecule, want a relationship with his creation? And, to be exact, how insane must he be to want a relationship with me?
If you don't have a relationship with God, I want to tell you something: God does want a relationship with you.
However, I'm not really posting this to convince you of that. Instead, I want to get you thinking about something else: why don't you have a relationship with God? What's stopping you?
Now, I could be wrong (and I usually am - I'm a guy, after all), but most of the people I know who don't have a relationship with God are people who were raised to believe in him and raised to follow rules that were said to be from the Bible. Some of those rules probably were found in Scripture somewhere, while some were probably part of a church's half-century old by-laws.
These people heard all the religious mumbo-jumbo, went along with it because they had to, and made a split for it the second that they could. I would have too. Thankfully, I wasn't raised in this way.
Last night, though, I figured something out. I mean, not completely, because then I'd probably be rich and would be showering you with money, but God at least gave me a peek into something pretty cool. I was at a class that is taught at the Pregnancy Crisis Center that I'm interning at and I was looking through the worksheets we received. Something caught my eye, though. A quote to be exact.
"Rules without relationship leads to rebellion." - Josh McDowell
And maybe, just maybe, you're in rebellion. Heck, I am a lot of times. I shove God away a lot. When I struggle. And even when times are good. I rebel because sometimes, I forget about my relationship with God.
Maybe, just maybe, you were raised to know all of the rules, go through all of the rituals, and recite all of the religious mumbo-jumbo you could retain. And you rebelled as soon as you could. Why? Because you're a person, and no person wants loaded down by rules, rituals, and religion. I sure as heck don't want to be.
I think, though, that if this was the case for you, you might have missed something. A very big piece of the puzzle. And I'm not pointing any fingers at who might have forgotten to tell you, but there's another very imperative "R" word that makes the rest of those ridiculous "R" words make a little more sense. And you already know it. It's a relationship.
Relationships make all the difference. In school, at work, and at home. Just think about it. If you tell your kids not to do something, chances are that they're going to do it anyway. It's natural. But if you have a great relationship with them, your chances increase dramatically that they might actually listen to what you have to say. Otherwise, if they don't have that, the rules set before them simply lead them to rebel. It's only natural.
It works the same way with God. He loves us. He wants a relationship with us, through Jesus. But we rebel. Why? We hear the rules and we don't want any part in it because, frankly, who wants to listen to rules set by someone we don't even know?
So here's my challenge to you today:
No matter who you are, where you're from, or where you're at with God, examine yourself. Have your own Time for Honesty. Do you have a relationship with God? Just think about it for a few minutes. Why don't you have a relationship with him? What's truly keeping you from that?
And if you do have some sort of relationship with him, how well do you really know him? Has that relationship actually changed your life? What about the lives around you? If it hasn't, it might be time to have a heart-to-heart with yourself and see what's going on.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on any of this (or anything else)! Just leave me a comment or send me an e-mail.
Twitter
Facebook
Digg
Delicious
Stumble
