The saying “To know me is to love me” is such a loaded
statement. When it comes to the love of God however it could not be truer. In
the natural progression of building relationships, you meet someone and you
spend time, quality time getting to know a them, perhaps grabbing a cup of
coffee, frequenting your favorite spots, or spending hours on the phone engaged
in deep conversation in hopes of learning more about them, discovering their
likes, dislikes, their values and pet peeves. Our relationship with Christ
should mirror the same effort and actions. We must spend the same quality time
in prayer, devotion, and worship to discover Gods character. Its only in his
presence that we discover the character of God, how he sees us, understand what
pleases him and displeases him and ultimately how he wants to build a healthy
relationship with us.
The building blocks of a healthy relationship is filled with
trust, understanding, and communication. It is no different with Christ. Often,
we forget that we are created in Gods image and likeness and that aspects of
the spiritual World, mimic that of our everyday lives. Without faith, it is
impossible to please God and faith is parallel to trust. In any relationship if
there is a lack of trust, it is impossible to have a healthy and sustainable
relationship. The absence of trust breeds fear and insecurities. But, perfect
love drives out fear. God wants us to trust him whole hardily, always knowing
that every season of our lives or situation may not feel good to us, but it is
good for us. It’s the same with
understanding and communication. In our
natural relationships both parties must communicate openly and honestly to have
a true understanding of one another. The great thing about Christ is he loves
us beyond anything our mind could every conceive and he already knows
everything about us including the past, and what shall be. However, we are on a
life long journey of discovering Him and his infinite love. God communicates
through his word and the Holy spirit and we reciprocate through our prayers,
devotional time and worship. The more you communicate with someone, you develop
a better understanding of who they are as a person, because you have an
opportunity to know their heart. We should apply the same principle to how view
Christ. If we don’t spend any time with Him, getting to know him by studying
his word, or communication through prayer, then how will we ever get to know
him, or understand his ways, or fathom his heart towards us?
It’s so important that the same amount of energy that we
give to new relationships when we are in that discovery phase that we give that
same amount of zeal and tenacity we give to understanding God and who and what
he is in our lives and for our lives. Or the same amount of time and energy we
give to sustaining established relationships we devote to keeping our
relationship with God strong and healthy.
