- Joined
- Apr 25, 2006
- Messages
- 18,404
Heart of the matter (3)
'Everyone who loves is born of God ...' 1 John 4:7
Lads have bizarre relationships with girls their own age. As kids, we start off well enough, but somewhere down the line, we go our separate ways, kicking footballs and punching our best mates. By the time we're in double figures we somehow believe that breaking wind in comedic fashion is a dead cert for wooing the opposite sex. We soon realize that men are from Mars and women are from, well, Top Shop, and Miss Selfridge ... you get the idea.
Perhaps our relationship with God follows a similar path. We start off as tiny tots knowing that God is that great big man with the beard who lives in the sky, and then somewhere down the line, life happens and all of a sudden that God who we have bottled up and kept on a shelf doesn't add up at all.
Any relationship needs to start by getting to know that special somebody personally, seeing what makes them tick. Maybe we do God a disservice when we treat Him like Captain Birdseye of the sky. Perhaps, we need to grow up from our tiny tot mentality and learn what makes God tick: '... let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God is love - so you can't know him if you don't love' (1 John 4:7-8 TM).
'Everyone who loves is born of God ...' 1 John 4:7
Lads have bizarre relationships with girls their own age. As kids, we start off well enough, but somewhere down the line, we go our separate ways, kicking footballs and punching our best mates. By the time we're in double figures we somehow believe that breaking wind in comedic fashion is a dead cert for wooing the opposite sex. We soon realize that men are from Mars and women are from, well, Top Shop, and Miss Selfridge ... you get the idea.
Perhaps our relationship with God follows a similar path. We start off as tiny tots knowing that God is that great big man with the beard who lives in the sky, and then somewhere down the line, life happens and all of a sudden that God who we have bottled up and kept on a shelf doesn't add up at all.
Any relationship needs to start by getting to know that special somebody personally, seeing what makes them tick. Maybe we do God a disservice when we treat Him like Captain Birdseye of the sky. Perhaps, we need to grow up from our tiny tot mentality and learn what makes God tick: '... let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God is love - so you can't know him if you don't love' (1 John 4:7-8 TM).
