True Relationship with God

 

When people hear you talk about your spiritual views...

(Pause. Do people hear you talk about your spiritual views?)

When people hear you talk about your spiritual views, do they hear more about church, programs, and other people, or do they hear about the living God?

It is very easy to fall into the habit of reducing our relationship with God to activities on the calendar. If we aren't intentional about our relationship with the Lord and the way we think about this life, our salvation essentially becomes defined by how busy we can be doing things for God. Instead of having a vibrant, personal relationship with our Maker, we can make ourselves so occupied in mind and soul that we become unable to sense His guidance, hear His voice, or consciously experience His grace. We can make things a real mess.

Now make no mistake: those who are living for the Lord will certainly be busy for the Lord. Calendars will be full of activities, large chunks of time will be eaten up by relationships, and, at times, it will feel overwhelming. However, this is only pleasing to God when these are the result of actually knowing Him, not a substitute for actually knowing Him. There is a real difference between doing things to look like you know Him and doing things because you really do know Him.

When we talk about the Lord, we should want others to hear about Him like they hear about family and friends. God is family--He is our Father. Jesus has called us His friends. We get to know the Maker of the universe because He has chosen to be personal. Therefore, others should hear about Him as the personal God, not the far-away God.

What a privilege it is to know Him.