Its quite often that you hear preachers talk about love. And there's a common phrase being passed around the Christian arena: "Its not a religion but a relationship". People talk about the Holy Spirit as if its sole reason for being is that you can love God and be in relationship. People talk about relationship with God as if that's all there is. I can sympathize with the sentiment, but I believe these people are very clearly missing something; many somethings in fact.
How often does Jesus talk about relationship? It may be a surprise to some that Jesus never once talks about having a relationship with God. Let me repeat: Not once in the four gospels or elsewhere does Jesus talk about having a relationship with God. He talks about being with God a good bit. He talks about loving God some. He talks about obeying God's commands a lot. But he never talks about relationship. What does he talk about? Life. Living, the thing we do every day. Something much more basic and much more important than relationship. How can you have a relationship if you're not alive? And being alive, spiritually alive, means being born again, which is a process. Jesus teaches his disciples so that they could live in the Spirit. He gives them the Spirit. It is with his words and the Holy Spirit that we can have life. And spiritual life is not opposed to physical life; its an add on. Just like God, being supernatural, is not opposed to nature, but he made it and he is above it. Spiritual life is above physical life, but it is through physical life, and physical experiences, that we gain spiritual life.
All of this starts with faith. You believe the Bible is true? Good! Read it. Learn from it. Doesn't that progression make sense? And through reading the Bible, a physical act, we gain knowledge of God, who is spiritual, and thus spiritual life. You believe that God is real? Good! Get down on your knees and pray. You are not today who you need to be to enter heaven (without entering heaven, relationship with God is impossible), and without God's help you can do nothing. Prayer is another physical act that starts with faith and ends with spiritual life. Obey God's commands, that's as important as anything. Fresh water and salt water do not come from the same spring. You don't have the spirit of God when your action, or inaction, is serving Satan. You see, it is through real everyday actions, by a real and reasonable faith, that a spiritual life grows.
Without this spiritual life, relationship is just a word. And religion, though it may also be just a word, is something much more primal; more oriented towards life (assuming that its true Christian religion). Religion, and all of God's teachings, are the things we understand first, long before we will ever understand what it means to have a relationship. And its even part of the relationship, just like natural is part of supernatural. The dance we dance, the battle we fight, the troubles we overcome, the commandments we obey and the sweet joys we experience are just a small taste of what true relationship with God is like. At least that's what I think, but I really don't know enough. It is clear, however, that these are the things Jesus focused on when he came to Earth. Jesus teaches us how to live. It is by living that we can then love.
How often does Jesus talk about relationship? It may be a surprise to some that Jesus never once talks about having a relationship with God. Let me repeat: Not once in the four gospels or elsewhere does Jesus talk about having a relationship with God. He talks about being with God a good bit. He talks about loving God some. He talks about obeying God's commands a lot. But he never talks about relationship. What does he talk about? Life. Living, the thing we do every day. Something much more basic and much more important than relationship. How can you have a relationship if you're not alive? And being alive, spiritually alive, means being born again, which is a process. Jesus teaches his disciples so that they could live in the Spirit. He gives them the Spirit. It is with his words and the Holy Spirit that we can have life. And spiritual life is not opposed to physical life; its an add on. Just like God, being supernatural, is not opposed to nature, but he made it and he is above it. Spiritual life is above physical life, but it is through physical life, and physical experiences, that we gain spiritual life.
All of this starts with faith. You believe the Bible is true? Good! Read it. Learn from it. Doesn't that progression make sense? And through reading the Bible, a physical act, we gain knowledge of God, who is spiritual, and thus spiritual life. You believe that God is real? Good! Get down on your knees and pray. You are not today who you need to be to enter heaven (without entering heaven, relationship with God is impossible), and without God's help you can do nothing. Prayer is another physical act that starts with faith and ends with spiritual life. Obey God's commands, that's as important as anything. Fresh water and salt water do not come from the same spring. You don't have the spirit of God when your action, or inaction, is serving Satan. You see, it is through real everyday actions, by a real and reasonable faith, that a spiritual life grows.
Without this spiritual life, relationship is just a word. And religion, though it may also be just a word, is something much more primal; more oriented towards life (assuming that its true Christian religion). Religion, and all of God's teachings, are the things we understand first, long before we will ever understand what it means to have a relationship. And its even part of the relationship, just like natural is part of supernatural. The dance we dance, the battle we fight, the troubles we overcome, the commandments we obey and the sweet joys we experience are just a small taste of what true relationship with God is like. At least that's what I think, but I really don't know enough. It is clear, however, that these are the things Jesus focused on when he came to Earth. Jesus teaches us how to live. It is by living that we can then love.
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