IT IS A RELATIONSHIP - PART 2

“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” (Matthew 22:37)


I understand now, why we have so much trouble, even in the secular world, with this thing called A RELATIONSHIP. Making one work even in the secular world doesn’t work as evident by the high divorce rate in this country, it is estimated in one year alone 55 to 60 percent of all marriages (even in church) wind up in divorce. Yet, the missing ingredient, the key, is so simple that it is right before our eyes and we miss it.

Diagnosing the problem is very simple, to quote a phrase from author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; “It is elementary, my dear fellow”. Having friends costs you nothing. Think about it, one can have a loose association of people at various levels of intensity, and call them friends, yet you never have to give anything in return to keep that relationship going. A phone call here, an E-Mail or text message there, with out giving any of yourself to them can keep a chain of “friends” going for the rest of your life. The same goes for acquaintances, or even relatives, indeed, some of those cost even less of you. But a relationship, that is the highest of bonds God ever made for this people planet. And it is such because it requires, yea demands, that you give or “sacrifice” something dear, something deep, something intimate of you, reciprocated both ways, to work.

Having a relationship means sometimes saying your sorry, when you did nothing wrong. Having a relationship means I don’t do what I want to do, all the time. Having a relationship with someone else means I promise to no longer think of me first, put me first in my wants, think of me as “number one”, but I take a back seat to the needs of my wife, my husband, and yes you guessed it, my God whom I proclaim I serve. How can you say you love your wife, when you spend more quality time in front of that TV watching football? Wife, how can you say you love your husband, when you secretly do the things that hurt him, and make him feel bad because you think he just doesn’t love you, and all the while you never talk to him about it?

And yes, Christian, how can you stand in church on Sunday, proudly proclaiming you have a relationship with Jesus Christ, when you spend hardly any time in the closet of prayer, and your life thru the week would reflect more of Saul of Tarsus than Paul the Apostle? Look at our reference above, Jesus commanded us to love God with everything we have. It takes:

1. OUR HEART
2. OUR MIND
3. OUR SOUL
4. OUR WANTS AND NEEDS SECOND
5. OUR FINANCES – WHEN IS THE LAST TIME YOU TITHED?
6. OUR TIME
7. OUR BODIES – YES, LIVING HOLY IS A COMMAND!

Simply put, the reason so many divorces happen in the church, in the world is the price of a relationship is not free, it costs us, and we in our selfish nature do not want to give up that kind of control in our lives. We are no different than the man who had his goods increased, and wanted to build more barns to hoard all the stuff he had to himself. God is tired of our half-hearted worship, our second rate giving, and our putrid sacrifices. And he is sending on this Earth persecution and tribulation, and you, dear reader will see more of it than what you have been told. But it is for a purpose, for God wants to see if you will chose him as a friend, or as a lover in a relationship to the death. Please reader, today, make the decision to have a relationship with Christ, keeping a list of do’s and don’ts wont save you, there are people in Hell who did it. Your denomination won’t qualify you for loving God, there will be people in Hell who thought joining one would save them. The reason you will leave here when Jesus comes again, the reason he will take you, is because he knew you, and that only come from a relationship.