Some deem the most significant relationship in their lives is the one with the person in the mirror. Others may say it’s their family, pets, significant others, or even their own children. Unless I’m at a church or watching a Christian video on social media, I rarely hear anyone say their most significant relationship or thing in their life is God, especially in these times we live in. If I’m being honest at this stage of my life, if someone asked me what the most valuable thing I own is or the most significant thing to me, the word God or a relationship with God wouldn’t be the first words off my tongue if we’re talking about my immediate answer to the question. Can you honestly say God is your first thought or choice unconsciously, if asked this question?
We live in a world that preaches the concept of continually creating, nourishing, and building relationships, whether that’s us seeking romantic or platonic relationships or the countless trying to engage others on and through the many social media platforms at our fingertips. It is always connection and more connection. But do we seek to improve or get more intimate in our relationship with God?
Genesis 2:7 NKJV states how God literally formed each and every one of us, something so intimate that words can’t really explain the closeness with God that this process truly exemplifies. God has been with us before the beginning of this world, when we entered the world, and the moment we take our last breath in this world (Matthew 28:20 KJV).
So what creates this separation or drift between us and our relationship with God that we all once had? One could say life itself. This life delivers so many different circumstances and situations to every one of us due to us existing in the land of the living in a fallen world. These situations and circumstances can make us tired, hopeless, and disheartened, and searching for something to save us or, at the very least, give us a small break from the internal or external battles that we all experience. All of these things can lead us to search for something or someone for deliverance from these things other than God. But do we realize or grasp who we already have at our disposal, the power that He holds in his hand, and the intimacy level that God has with us of knowing our innermost thoughts that the closest people in our lives couldn’t even fathom or understand (Psalm 139:2)?
I’ll be the first to tell you that I have placed people in my life where God is supposed to be: at the center. Those reasons varied from me being more worried about others’ opinions of me (Galatians 1:10 GLNT), God not moving in the way or time I wanted him to, me not feeling close or hearing the voice of God, and other things stemming around my relationship like my intentionality connecting with God and my view of God. Recently, a pastor did a powerful sermon at my church where he based his message to the congregation off of (Matthew 14:13-21 KJV). This passage detailed the story of Jesus Feeding Five Thousand. In this passage, Jesus fed more than 5,000 people off 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, showing his faith in God to provide and, most importantly, his intimate relationship with a never-failing God.
The most important verses in the pastor’s message were (Matthew 14:15-17 KJV), in these verses, Jesus told the disciples to feed the multitude of starving people. However, the disciple’s response was that a lack of faith that God could provide what they needed and to send those looking for light in a dark world away. What I got from this pastor’s message was that my lack of faith in God as of late has stemmed from my lack of an intimate relationship with God.
Where would you say your relationship with God is as of late? Would you say you even have one with God? I’m not saying you don’t need anyone in this world; God made all of us and wants us as Christians to have community, but God doesn’t want anything or anyone to come before our service and relationship with Him (Matthew 10:34-39 NIV).
What I recently saw in my life is that I allowed my disappointments and frustrations with the challenges and situations in my life to make me drift away from the only One who can truly understand what I’m feeling and guide me to where I need to go and do to get above it – God.
We must remember what (John 15:4-5 KJV) reminds us, “abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abides in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”
Will you be intentional in cultivating an intimate relationship with God in order to get through this life that offers so many hard ordeals for all of us? Will you have a relationship with God or a lack thereof? What do you think you”ll hear at the end of your life? A job well done, my faithful servant, or leave me, I never knew you (Matthew 7:21-23 NLT)?
