Everyday of our lives, God
wants to have a very personal relationship with us – very personal. You know
the way you relate with your sisters who are your besties (like how Komi, Fiyin
and I relate)? God wants a 100 times more personal, more intimate relationship
than that with us. It may seem strange because we have often dealt with God as
that Big Guy up there that we must not offend if we don’t want to have his big
stick whacking our heads. That’s what we have been taught, that’s how we have
related with God all our lives.
Yes! We call Him Father. We
sing His beautiful songs; get in the motions; preach of His love, tell people
that He wants a personal relationship with us; many times, even think that we
have a personal relationship with Him. But truly looking at it, we realize that
many of us still see God as a manager – a manager of life, of the good book, of
the evil book, of accidents and safety, of the roads, of those who go to heaven
and those destined to hell. Seeing Him as a manager, we become managers of God
ourselves. We deal with Him too “softly” so He doesn’t hurt (or get angry) –
like an egg, we treat Him like He is so vulnerable. So we ask Him for the big
things only, pray mechanized prayers (using ten or so rules of highly effective
prayers), study the Bible because we’re told that God expects us to. We
mechanically deal with a God who is so versatile, mysterious, and oftentimes
unpredictable in His working. This is a thousand miles from how God intends our
relationship with Him should be. God desires a love relationship – one that isn’t
boxed by rules.
When I first got married (only
3 months ago), I wanted to begin to act by the “rules”. You know how we constantly hear of roles of
the man and the wife, what is expected of the man, what is expected of the
woman, etc. I wanted to be the “good wife”, flawlessly playing my duties right.
Thankfully, my husband kept ringing it in my head with love that our own
marriage should not be defined by rules. I gradually relaxed and praise God, I
enjoy a love marriage – not a “rules” marriage. I have come to realize that it
is the love we share that makes us do the things we do for each other, not out
of obligation, but out of love. God expects even better.
A love relationship with
God is not controlled by rules. No! It is intimate, dynamic, full of life, and
liberating. That’s how God wants us to be with Him this year and every day of
our lives.
First Corinthians Two is
one of the over a thousand passages I really love in the Bible. It talks about the
Spirit of God knowing perfectly the mind of God just like the spirit of man
knows the things of man. But because we have the Spirit of God in us, we can
also know the things of God. In fact, verse sixteen tells us that we have the
mind of Christ. That thrills me!
However, I’ve thought about this, “If this is indeed
true for every believer, why do we still struggle to know God’s will concerning
situations of life? Why do we feel a need to consult several people before we
make decisions on critical issues? And having done that, why do we still make
grave mistakes for making the wrong choices?” I mean if I have the mind of Christ,
I should be undoubtedly sure about what is right and best all the time. So why
do I often struggle? I believe this has a loooot to do with the relationship we
share with God. A love relationship is what makes spouses of many years to
begin to look alike, talk alike and complete each other’s sentences. The more
we treat God like a manager and manage Him alike, the farther from Him we get.
The kind of relationship
God wants from us is that where because we are in constant commune with Him, we
know the exact route to take to avoid traffic or dangers while driving, the
exact clothes to put on that will endear interviewers to us when we go job seeking,
the exact words to say that will bring comfort to a troubled heart. Since we
have the mind of Christ, it means that we know His will as regards any and
every decision we have to make. You won’t need to go around asking other people’s
opinions; you won’t need to ask for a sign or seek confirmation from anywhere. You
just know what to do because He tells it to you.
Imagine how amazing our
Christian walk will be if we indeed related with God in love and intimacy –
like He desires. Of course, we can never attain this without constant
fellowship with Him in worship, prayers, Word study, and testifying of Him. So yeah,
the rules are good, but our relationship with Him should not be controlled by
them. It should be controlled by love.
I look forward to a new
level of intimacy with the LORD this year 2017. How about you?
Happy New Year 2017
