LITMIR.BIZ

      Relationship with God

      Firstly and primarily, we humans were made to have a relationship with God himself. The first basic truth of the gospel from an individual personal point of view is that ‘God made me to have a relationship with him’. This relationship is, in many ways, like human interpersonal relationships, but in other ways it is different. It is the relationship of the Creator with the created, the infinite with the finite, the immortal with the mortal. Because of this, we need to take care at this point to define this relationship appropriately.

      The nature of the relationship between God and humanity was always intended to be two-sided. From God’s point of view, he wants to use his immense power to love each person, bless them, lead them, guide them, provide for them, protect them, nurture them and walk through life with them. Put another way, he wants to ‘hang out’ with us. He wants to be our friend, knowing us, caring for us and enjoying our company.

      This is seen in the account of the Garden of Eden where he provided humanity with the beauty and perfection of the Garden and walked with them in the shade of the trees.23 He wants this relationship to be everlasting. In other words, he wants to spend eternity with you and me. In the movie Bruce Almighty24 there is a scene in which God (Morgan Freeman) chats to Bruce (Jim Carrey) as they mop the floor, working together, enjoying each other’s company. Or think of a parent spending time with their child maybe fishing or shopping together; God wants to spend time with us.

      This desire is symbolised in the story of Genesis 2-3 by the tree of life in the centre of the garden, the fruit of which would give Adam and Eve eternal life.25 The first humans were able to eat of it at any time. It would enable them to live eternally and be sustained in their relationship with God.26

      Effectively this was an invitation to join God who is triune (three, yet one) – Father, Son and Spirit. The concept of the Trinity states that God is eternally One in being, yet exists in three eternal simultaneous forms; One yet three – three yet One. We are not a hundred percent sure how this works. I mean, who can work out the notion of a cosmic eternal being who is one and also existing in three forms simultaneously? But it seems from the Bible that God is supreme, is one in character, psyche, connectedness, essence and community, yet exists in three totally unified and intimately connected individual personal beings.27

      Hence, the Christian God is different from the Muslim God who is one in a literal mathematical sense, removing any notion of his becoming human. The Muslim God then is a ‘distant’ God who is difficult to relate to. The Christian God is also different to the many Hindu gods who are totally present, distinct, a blend of good and evil and who are supposedly with us in many forms and ways. The Christian God is one but exists in three perfectly united, good, connected, pure modes; all with different functions but on perfectly equal terms, utterly one but expressed in three (the Godhead). He is beyond us in glory (transcendent), yet present with us in history (immanent).

      At his heart, this God is one in unity – that is, a unity of community. Hence, our invitation to accept the Christian message is not only an invitation to join God, but also an invitation to join the community of God’s being28 and the wider heavenly community.29 Consequently, a person who enters into a relationship with God joins the triune God and the many heavenly beings in a community of love. We don’t become God or gods, but we enter into a deep and intimate spiritual relationship with God and his people. The unity of the Godhead is the ideal for community, the three eternal persons of God being one in love and purpose and living in perfect harmony and peace. Heaven, as it exists now, is similarly a place of purity and unity which God will preserve at all costs. In a sense then, the communities of believers that exist on earth are meant to be extensions of the heavenly community – colonies of heaven on earth that demonstrate and extend the heavenly community.30

      The best way to understand God in these terms is through the human experience of parenting. God is often called ‘Father’. This is an English translation taken from the intimate Aramaic family term of endearment used by Jesus and Paul to refer to God in the New Testament (Abba).31 As ‘Father’, God embodies the fullness of the ideal of human parenting, including in his being the notions of motherhood and fatherhood.32 Just as a young couple want to create a child to love, nurture, provide for, protect and guide through life, God is the cosmic parent of us all, who created with a desire to have a relationship with us.

      Ideally each person will walk in a flawless, direct and open relationship with God. He or she would know God and be his friend, experiencing his blessing and returning trust, gratitude and love. However, we are not equals with God, so our relationship with him is also one of the created to the creator; the limited to the all-powerful, the mortal to the immortal, the finite to the infinite. The only right response of humanity to such an awesome being is awe, reverence, gratitude, obedience, humility, allegiance and service.

      Another way of putting it is that every human was created to worship God.33 This isn’t just something that happens at church, but is an on-going life attitude, serving God, accepting his offer of love and taking our place in caring for and developing the world. It needs to be pointed out that, from God’s point of view, this is not a relationship of domination. He does not seek to force us into submission. He will cherish us and dote over us as a mother over her newborn child. We should live lives of gratitude, placing him above everything else and glorifying him.

      When Jesus was asked which of the ten commandments was the most important, he said, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’34 Every human was created to be loved by God and to love God. Humans are the children in a cosmic parent-child relationship. We are created to be children of God, loving our divine Father, walking in relationship with him.35