Reminder

I hope you were blessed in some way by the excerpts shared here over the last few weeks from the book Love Does. The book spoke to me in a huge way (Thanks Andy). I think the thing that struck me the most was the freedom and lack of fear that Mr. Goff seems to operate in so much of the time. It’s the kind of freedom that only comes through an intimate relationship with God. The kind of connection that each of us can have.  In fact God’s greatest desire is to be the closest most trusting relationship you have.

Missing the Mark

“I used to think I had missed the mark and God was mad about it, but now I know “missing the mark” is a stupid analogy.” – Bob Goff, Love Does

Boy, I don’t know if there’s anything to be added here. This amazing life we’ve been given has twists and turns at nearly every step. I’m so thankful that Our God not only meets us whichever way we head He also wants to be there each step of the way.

Esteem

Caring too much about the opinions of others can be another diversion from The Lord. This one’s very closely related to fear as well as performance. I know I’m trying to help you move into a more intimate relationship with the God who loves you so very much and to this point I hope we’ve been removing barriers. But this one has the potential of making you say, “Okay, that’s close enough”.

Sometimes God is going to want to do something really crazy with you. Not crazy like “for no reason” but crazy in the eyes of the world around us. You see we can’t get close to Him without changing and the world hates change. We like things all tied up a pretty package that we can predict, understand and maybe even control. That’s not the way of God, He is completely unique and our relationship with Him must be unique too. If His love for us is not one of a kind then it’s not enough, it would fall short of filling the need we each have to be special. So don’t be afraid of what others think. Draw as close to Him as you can, become so familiar with His voice that there is no question and then whatever He says, do it. It may look wacky to those around you but I promise it is the most wonderful, free and fulfilling life you could ever dream of. In fact it’s the one you’ve been wanting.

Relative

Another place that some keep The Lord is “in the family.” Usually in this type of relationship it’s distant family. Someone they know well, maybe Mom and Dad or close friends are near to God so they figure they’re covered too. The sad thing about this relationship is that while those around us can be a blessing and we certainly need the love of family and friends, they are no substitute for the uniquely intimate love that can only come from The Father. Believing in God is not the same as knowing Him.

The Case of Unbelief

This philosophical argument is also known as divine hiddenness and reasons that if there were a God that wants us to know Him then He would have made it so that everyone would. This line of thinking is very closely related to the problem of evil that we discussed a few days ago and is also best addressed by understanding that love and choice must co-exist. I believe that God has taken steps to draw us to Him and that His utmost desire is for each of us to choose to know Him. I think that if we were honest with ourselves we’d acknowledge that our greatest need is to be perfectly loved and accepted in a completely unique way. This is a need that God placed in us knowing that only He is able to fill. So in a very real sense God has created a situation to influence us into knowing Him but we still get to choose.

How real is God?

Over the next several days let’s take a look at some of the varying degrees we allow God into our lives. Everyone has a perception of God and that view affects us immensely. I know God’s desire is for our understanding of Him to increase no matter what we believe today and that He wants this understanding to grow into knowing Him on a very personal basis. It’s possible for our connection with Him to be the deepest and most honest relationship we could possibly know. So let’s see where we are with God as well as where others may have Him so we can draw closer while helping those around us get nearer too.

Come Back

Do you ever have those times when God seems a little distant? You know something is not like it could be so you start to worry about it and put a plan into action. You determine to read more and pray more and before you know it you’ve taken the relationship completely into your own hands, religion has taken over and you aren’t any closer than when you started. I wonder if God might want to say, “slow down, rest, come back over here I haven’t gone anywhere. Don’t try so hard, Let’s just be together today”?

Infinite and Transcendent

These two attributes are so closely related I thought we would look at them together. God as infinite takes into account both His eternalness and His immensity. While being transcendent means that He is beyond space and time. So if we put them together we see that He has always been, no beginning, no end and He’s bigger than all He has created. Because He is outside of space and time He is not only everywhere (omnipresent) but also everywhen. The comfort we can take from this is that there is nothing that takes God by surprise. He has the way prepared for us if we will stay close and even if we don’t, He’s got that figured out too.

In the cool of the day

“And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day…” I love this portion of scripture. It says so much about the intimacy Adam and Eve shared with God. How familiar they were with Him and how close He is.

He Holds Nothing Back

God wants us to know His fullness and for those that will stay close there is no secrecy. His desire is for us to stay in an eternal quest for more of Him. The serpent convinced Eve that God was hiding something from her, that God was selfish and that She didn’t need Him.