Relationship--God and Man
“So embrace, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, a spirit of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, and longsuffering. Bear with one another and forgive one another. If anyone has a quarrel against anyone, even as Christ forgave you, so you must do. And above all these things, embrace love, which is the bond of perfection.” Colossians 3:12-14 (MEV)
The relationship between God and mankind differs in one magnificent way from all other relationships. In this relationship, the one between God and mankind, one of the participants is ALWAYS faithful, ALWAYS loving, and NEVER changing. We all know which one that is: GOD. So any difficulties in the relationship are because of us. What can we do to keep that relationship on a solid foundation?
We can recognize that God created everything so that He can have fellowship with us. Much of His creation puts us in awe: mountains, lakes, rivers, canyons, plains, elephants, amoebas, the sun, the moon, the stars. We must also stand in awe of His greatest creation—US. In all the billions of people who will have peopled the earth by the time of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, there are no two people exactly alike. We are different in size, shape, skin color, intellectual ability, and personality, yet He loves each of us the same. I’m loved as much as He loves you, and you are loved as much as He loves Billy Graham, and Billy Graham is loved as much as He loves Josef Stalin.
We can keep our relationship with God on a solid foundation by reading His written Word, the Bible. In this grand book, He shows us how to act so that we keep in good relationship. Jesus was very specific when He was asked to name the greatest commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30,31 (NIV) Jesus was asked for the one greatest commandment, but He answered with two. He specifically mentions the second. In the first, He delineates our responsibilities to Him, and in the second He tells us how to treat each other. He also says, “There is no commandment greater than these.” There we have it—the way to fulfill our part of the relationship, the covenant. In no day have I been able to completely fulfill both of these two greatest commandments. I believe that God understands that and that He understood it when Jesus answered the question. But because He never changes, I am forgiven each day.
Obeying these two commandments does not guarantee us a home with Him for eternity. The one and only action of ours that gives us that guarantee is our acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Once we have done that, God desires that we fulfill each of these two every day. In fact, He expects us to fulfill them, but because of His forgiving nature, He keeps giving us mercy in our failures. Understand this—God expects us to love Him first, and out of that love He expects us to love our fellow man. When we do these two things, we gladden His heart, and that is my desire—to gladden His heart.
So we have a relationship where one partner is ALWAYS faithful, and the other partner is sometimes faithful, and because of His faithfulness we are forgiven. We fulfill our part of the relationship by doing our best to love Him completely, love our fellow man well, and live in the knowledge of and thankfulness for His TOTAL commitment to us and our relationship.
Thank you, Father God! Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Holy Spirit!
0 Comments