God Is Close
God is not far from any one of us. Each of us, whether we realize it or not, lives, breathes, and has our being in Him. If God were to withdraw His spark of life in our frame, we would cease...but He sustains us.
God has no needs, yet He supplies our every need. God desires us, not because He needs us, but because He loves us. His burning desire is to be with us, to spend time with us. To hear what is in our heart, and to reveal to us what is in His heart.
What God made to be simple, we have complicated. The heart of man wants to distill God into a method...a religion. He made us for relationship. God describes a relationship with Himself in the most amazing terms: Father and Husband. It is no coincidence that these two relationships are the most attacked in our culture. Our idea of fathers and husbands is less than God's is.
God is a Father who longs to provide for us. A Father who enjoys to watch us explore all that is His. A Father that longs for a good life for His children. A Father who is serious about judging rebellion, but also one who quickly and gladly restores us from our many mistakes of immaturity. A Father with a joyful and loving heart for those who have chosen to be His children.
The Bible describes Jesus as a husband. This reality about our position with Jesus isn't about gender, it is about the terms of a relationship. It describes His commitment to us. When we decide to enter into a relationship with Jesus, He is so committed to the relationship that the "two become one". This means you aren't on shaky terms with Jesus. You aren't on "probation" for your last mistake. He isn't waiting to see if you'll finally get it together. He is committed to seeing you through to glory...to victory in life as He defines it. He knew what He was getting into when He invited you into the relationship!
God is serious about judging rebellion, but He knows the difference between rebellion and immaturity in the relationship. He knows the difference between when you just "blew it" (you agree with Him about what is right, but you failed) and when you are digging in and refusing to live in a way that agrees with Him and will bring life.
That is the point of living the way He describes. He desires for those in His amazing family to live in the fullness of life. His commands lead to life, and life in full!
Don't treat yourself like you are on probation with God. When we hold ourselves at arms length, we totally disagree with the way HE defines our standing with Him. If you blew it, just confess it and know you are fully restored! If you realize you are digging in and rebelling against God, repent (agree that God is right) and ask Him to restore you in Jesus' name. It really is that easy! When we see the relationship in a way that agrees with Him, we get hungrier for life the way He defines it.
2 Peter 1:2 May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.
3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world's corruption caused by human desires.
5 In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God's promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.
8 The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.
We grow in this way by letting Him whisper His love to us and believing it. It is not by our own might that we run the race, but by His strong love calling us deeper and deeper!
God has no needs, yet He supplies our every need. God desires us, not because He needs us, but because He loves us. His burning desire is to be with us, to spend time with us. To hear what is in our heart, and to reveal to us what is in His heart.
What God made to be simple, we have complicated. The heart of man wants to distill God into a method...a religion. He made us for relationship. God describes a relationship with Himself in the most amazing terms: Father and Husband. It is no coincidence that these two relationships are the most attacked in our culture. Our idea of fathers and husbands is less than God's is.
God is a Father who longs to provide for us. A Father who enjoys to watch us explore all that is His. A Father that longs for a good life for His children. A Father who is serious about judging rebellion, but also one who quickly and gladly restores us from our many mistakes of immaturity. A Father with a joyful and loving heart for those who have chosen to be His children.
The Bible describes Jesus as a husband. This reality about our position with Jesus isn't about gender, it is about the terms of a relationship. It describes His commitment to us. When we decide to enter into a relationship with Jesus, He is so committed to the relationship that the "two become one". This means you aren't on shaky terms with Jesus. You aren't on "probation" for your last mistake. He isn't waiting to see if you'll finally get it together. He is committed to seeing you through to glory...to victory in life as He defines it. He knew what He was getting into when He invited you into the relationship!
God is serious about judging rebellion, but He knows the difference between rebellion and immaturity in the relationship. He knows the difference between when you just "blew it" (you agree with Him about what is right, but you failed) and when you are digging in and refusing to live in a way that agrees with Him and will bring life.
That is the point of living the way He describes. He desires for those in His amazing family to live in the fullness of life. His commands lead to life, and life in full!
Don't treat yourself like you are on probation with God. When we hold ourselves at arms length, we totally disagree with the way HE defines our standing with Him. If you blew it, just confess it and know you are fully restored! If you realize you are digging in and rebelling against God, repent (agree that God is right) and ask Him to restore you in Jesus' name. It really is that easy! When we see the relationship in a way that agrees with Him, we get hungrier for life the way He defines it.
2 Peter 1:2 May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.
3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world's corruption caused by human desires.
5 In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God's promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.
8 The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.
We grow in this way by letting Him whisper His love to us and believing it. It is not by our own might that we run the race, but by His strong love calling us deeper and deeper!
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