Yesterday, after my prayer time, I was thinking more about relationships versus religion and rules and so convinced that the Lord is after relationship wth us, not religion, which is basically following a bunch of rules. We like rules because we can follow them and feel like we have achieved something, we can keep track of how we are doing by using a checklist. What real relationship works that way? Every real relationship between two loving people, involves a unique interconnection that is based on their personalities and ways they think and act. Every person is unique and a relationship with each person will have some uniqueness about it. The great news is the Lord created us unique and loves and embraces our uniqueness, and doesn't want us to all look and act the same, but wants to be in relationship with us, as we are now.
Since God is interested in relationship with us, we need to know what He is like. That is the primary reason Jesus came to earth, to reveal the Father (Matt 11:27, Heb 1:3, John 1:18 and pretty much the whole Gospel of John) Secondly, we need to have access to the person we want a relationship with and that is the second reason Jesus came to earth, to establish a way to the Father (John 14:6, Heb 3-10). Finally, we need to understand how to live out that relationship in our daily lives and that is what Jesus showed us as He lived on the earth, and generally what the writers of the epistles were writing about in their letters.
Jesus spent much of His time speaking about the Father, what the Father is like and what living in relationship with Him is like. He spoke of the Kingdom of God constantly, and that would mean under the dominion of the King, under His rule and reign, or one could say 'in relationship'. Although Jesus spoke of the Kingdom, His relational reference was always to the "Father" not to a king. His speaking about the Kingdom was to help us understand authority and power, and the rightful use and representation of these in the Father's house. His constant reference to the Father was to give us insight into what The Father is really like, and establish a relational understanding among His followers. His actions were demonstrations of what someone's life would look like when they were living in right relationship with the Father. Our call to be like Jesus is to learn to follow in His footsteps of a loving, super intimate relationship with the Lord.
This what our Christian walk is supposed to be about, not following a certain set of rules, in the absence of a real relationship. Sometimes it feels like churches are just clubs with a set of rules, made up by the founder (Jesus) and that if we follow the rules we think we are in the club. Being in the club is not the same as being in relationship with the Lord. We could go to the club every Sunday, follow all the rules and never know or meet the founder. We could sit and listen to hundreds of talks about the rules, even about the founder, but if we never meet him we don't have a real relationship. Jesus didn't come to earth to establish a new religious organization, He came to save us all (1 Tim 1:15) and establish relationship with us. He wants us all to step into our rightful relationships as sons and daughters (Gal 3:26, Gal 4:6-7), not club membership.
My thoughts this morning are just the tip of the iceberg concerning this topic of relationships versus religion. We are called to a rich and intimate relationship with God, we must not settle for something less. Lord, help me to explore the fullness of relationship with You.
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