The Relationship

THE RELATIONSHIP


I, like many Christians have always referred to my relationship with God as a "walk" or a "path". Recently, I read an outstanding book by David Gregory called "Dinner with a Perfect Stranger". If you have read it, you know what I mean, if you haven't read it, go read it now. I'm serious, if you can, stop reading this, go get a copy, and read it. It's 100 pages long and I read it in one and a half hours. Short of the Bible, it's probably the most inspired book ever written. In the book an unrealized seeker named Nick who lives in Cincinnati (woo-hoo) receives an invitation to dinner with Jesus of Nazareth. Thinking it to be a prank from his buddies, he goes, and what he discovers will change his life forever. In one of their conversations Nick is told that there is no "path" to God. This greatly disturbs Nick, who was just starting to feel hope. He was then told that a "path" or "journey" signifies distance, time, or accomplishments; and this just isn't how God works. If we want God to be with us we need only accept His free gift. This bewildered me, because I have often wondered how I "stacked up" in Gods eyes when compared to other Christians and what kind of progress had I made in my spiritual journey since I had embraced my Savior. You know what I see as the truth? No matter how many personal barriers I cross, how many what I believe to be "great" things I do for Him; He is not impressed. Do you know why I say this? Because any hurdle I clear or any mountain I pass through I did so with His strength! In another part of the book Jesus takes a business card and asks Nick for two names. The first was to be the best person he could think of and Nick said "Mother Theresa", which Jesus wrote on the top of the card. The second was to be the most evil person he could think of and Nick picked "Hitler", whom Jesus then wrote at the bottom of the card. Jesus then took the card, put it in front of Nick, and asked him to put a mark on the card where he thought he fell between the two. Not wanting to appear proud or seem self-degrading, Nick put his mark just above half way between the two. Jesus then took the card and told Nick that yes Hitler was terribly evil and was a good example of who would be at the bottom of the list and yes Mother Theresa was a good servant to her Lord, but if you were to put this to scale of Gods level of worthiness to be "good enough" to get into Heaven you would have to go to Chicago's Sears Tower and lay the card against the base of it. The ground would be Hitler, the top of the card Mother Theresa, and the top of the Sears Tower would be "good enough" to God. You see, despite all of our works, we're still at the bottom together and the only way we'll ever "measure up" is by accepting Gods gift of His only Son, sacrificed for our sins so that God might be with us personally for eternity.
So…. Once I finally came to from my "Biblical Seizures" I started to try and put this all together, and this is how I see it. Once we have accepted our free gift, there is no "path" to God. There is no "checklist" to accomplish. It's just Him and me beginning our eternal life together. Will He change me? Gosh, I should say so, because who I was, was a mess. He'll do it for you too, if you put Him first in your life. I'm doing a new thing for me; I'm aligning myself to His Will, instead of asking Him to bless mine. Next, you might sometimes wonder if there are other Christians who are further along on their journey. I don't think anybody is further along than anybody else because we all have our own relationship with God. Saying any two peoples journey through faith is alike would be like trying to find two grains of sand in the ocean that are exactly alike. How long will it take God to shape me into who I need to be? But Jesus took only took about eighteen months to take twelve ordinary men and make them Apostles. You know what are some things God wants all of us to do? He wants us to go to Him and offer up all the "baggage" we've been carrying around; the "self-reliance" we think we have, the discontent that poisons our hopes, the weariness of trying to declare "our" glory, the worry that eats at our very being, the hopelessness that we feel because we won't turn to Him, the guilt, the arrogance, our fear of death, our grief, the fear of failure, our loneliness, shame, disappointment, our envy, and our doubt. He wants us to offer it up and quit carrying that crap around! Next, He wants us to open the door when He knocks and when we do, be ready to clean, because to tell you the truth, if I was God and I was going to be dwelling with someone for eternity, I wouldn't want to smell their dirty laundry either. So, what's my final advice? Drop the pride, embrace the hope, let "Abba" wrap you in His arms, cry when you feel it (regardless of where you are), and do what you were created to do. Reflect the GLORY OF GOD…Our Creator, Our Savior, Our Strength. Do I hear an amen?
(Grant Davis 8-13-06)

QUOTE OF THE DAY"Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." --Winston Churchill

THINK ABOUT THIS:I often hear people refer to Adam and Eve's original sin as "a fall from grace". Weren't Adam and Eve in constant harmony with God up to that point ? What did they need of Grace if they were without SIn ? Shouldn't this event be called "The fall into Grace"?

GOD IS ANNOYING BECAUSEHe won't let me remain comfortable with my own sin. (Luke 5:8)

Have a God day and remember, when God is in you, He's so big He can't help but show through. God Bless. --Grant

-- Grant Davis Be HIS miracle"Omnis Cedo Domus"