Relationships

What is being a Christian all about?

It’s about relationships.

It’s about having a relationship with God.

But, there’s a wrinkle.

God is perfect, Holy and righteous.

We are not.

Even if I had the capacity to review every day of my life and single out what I considered to be my very best day, a closer examination would reveal that somewhere during the course of that day, I came up short.

Likely more than once.

Maybe I said or did something I should not have.

Perhaps I neglected to say or do something I should have.

So, how do we as fallible human beings have a relationship with God?

We do so by having a relationship with Jesus.

We have that relationship with Jesus by realizing that we have a desperate all consuming need for salvation.

We have that relationship when we recognize that He came and dwelt among us for a time.

He did so and experienced many of the same things that you and I experience.

Pain, loneliness, hunger, cold, the hatred of others toward Him and so forth.

He experienced all these things and so much more but there is one huge difference.

Jesus never committed a single sin.

That is why He was the perfect atonement for our sin.

Jesus bridges the gap that would otherwise separate us from God.

Then there is the relationship we have with the Holy Spirit.

This is perhaps the most mysterious and least understood relationship we have due to the nature of the Holy Spirit.

So, how does one know that he has a relationship with the third person of the Trinity?

I confess that when it comes to this relationship it is of such a nature that it is hard for me to put into words.

I can give you examples of what the Holy Spirit does in our lives.

He convicts us of our sin and leads us to recognize Jesus as our Savior.

He then assures us of that salvation.

He helps us recognize and understand the truth.

He transforms our lives in unique and surprising ways.

If someone had described my life today to me years ago, I would simply not have believed them.

But these changes were not my idea nor were they part of any planning on my part.

They occurred because of the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Finally, there is one other set of relationships.

The relationships we have with others.

Jesus referred to these others as "our neighbor".

Being human, we quickly find that these prove to be the most challenging of all.

We are to love our neighbor even when our neighbor refuses to love us in return.

We are to forgive our neighbor even when they are unaware that they have wronged us.

We are to forgive them, even if they refuse to forgive us.

We are not to pass judgment on them even if they choose to judge us.

Sound difficult?

In a way, it is.

But as we establish and then improve upon these relationships, our lives become the richer for them.

Before closing, I want you to think about what you consider your most worthwhile accomplishment in life.

Now ask yourself the following question.

Do you consider it worthwhile because it was easy or because it was difficult?

Until we meet again.


Blessings,
Jim Pokorny
The  Other Brother Jim
Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, November 15, 2013.
Please enjoy the contributions of my fellow Christian bloggers while you are there!
I’ll be back here on Friday, November 22, 2013.