An Idea

I've seen a couple of sci-fi movies recently.  It got me thinking.  What if when we were born, the doctor took us away from our parents and we never saw them again until after we died?  It's quite the morbid thought, isn't it?  What if during our lives, we got a letter from them once a week, but somebody else had to read it to us?  And what if when they would read it, they'd only read it in small little parts, maybe even just single sentences?  We would never know much about our parents!  We would only hear parts of how they felt about us.  They would be little more than figments of our imagination.  We would read things about parenting in history books and the idea seemed like a good one, but it would never happen in OUR lives!  Any similarity between us and the people who gave life to us would be the sum total of extreme distance and dumb luck.  Parents would be nothing more than an IDEA.

Yet I've just painted a picture of the average Christian.  How?  Just think about it.  By the time we make a decision to follow Christ, we are old enough to make decisions.  Therefore, there have been learned self dependency patterns in many areas of our lives.  It's hard to make the turn from a tangible parent or guardian, to that of an unseen being who has become our "Heavenly Father."  Then we hear words describing Him like holy, righteous, supreme, omniscient, judge, and we wonder exactly how close we can get to someone like that!

So we treat our spiritual lives much like that sic-fi picture I painted in my head.  We look at a relationship with Jesus as nothing more than an idea.  We don't really try to get too close because first, we don't really know how, and second, what if He sees all the ugly parts that aren't cleaned up yet?  It's the equivalent of your parents finding your diary already open to the page with your biggest secret!  So we keep everything at arm's length.  We go to church because we need that in our lives.  It's why we made the choice to follow Christ in the first place.  Sometimes it fills a curiosity, but mostly it's probably social.  The pastor MUST live a much closer life to God than WE ever could, so we'll just go and hear what He has to say and let him "read the letter" from our Father.

See where I'm going with this?  How can we expect to KNOW our Father, which is exactly what He desires, if we only let someone else read His letter to us?  There's no relational heart to heart intimacy there!  And when people ask us about Him, it becomes like telling them about our great, great grandfather.  We know he existed.  We know we're related to him.  But we've only seen few pictures, if any, and might know something about his life.  But as far as if we take after him, or apply any of his life lessons to our lives, or know much about his character, we couldn't even begin to speak to those things!

Oh but we have a "relationship" with Jesus, right?  No.  The majority of us have an IDEA about Jesus.  We know who He was/is.  We know what He did on the cross and that He came back to life three days later.  We know what we were taught in Sunday School or what we've heard the pastor tell us on Sunday mornings, but that's about it.  When you hear things about God, do you know His character well enough that you can discern truth from untruth based on your knowledge of who He is and has been to you in your life?

I know that I'm my parents' son.  You know how?  First, I am a spitting image of my mom, just in male form.  I have expressions like my dad.  My hands look like his and my index finger is slightly crooked at the first joint right below the nail, just like his.  I cough and sound just like my mom.  I walk with my palms facing backward instead of inward, just like my mom and her family.  I have my paternal grandfather's hair line and big hands.  I scrape ice cream from the bottom of a bowl just like my dad, which Michelle points out all the time!  I know these things because I've spent time with them.  I've seen their actions.  And I've emulated them in many ways.

So I ask us ALL this question?  Other than knowing you made a decision to follow Christ, how do you know you're a child of God?  Have you caught yourself emulating Him in some way?  Do you look on others differently than you ever did or thought you would?  Do you see yourself smiling at things you know would make Him smile or does your heart break at things you know would break His?  When you hear the name, Jesus, does it warm you?  Have you ever caught Him smiling at you, saying He's proud of you, or thought that maybe you heard the song He sings over you?  Scripture is only where it begins.  It is the guideline.  Nothing happens outside of the guidelines it sets, but there's so much MORE!  There's the part that's meant for you and only you!

My eyes are tearing even as I type this, because I have seen His love, His protection, His grace in my life SO strong in the last two years in spite of who I am, not because of who I am!  I still mess up.  I'll never be the son that I'd have liked to have been, yet I still hear God say He's proud of me.  I've felt him sit beside me as my mom used to do when I was little, and put His hand on my back and console me.  I've heard Him warn me when I'm about to step out of line, and I've felt His discipline when I didn't listen.  I know how He reacts to others because I know how He has reacted to me!  This is how I know I'm a child of His!

Yes, I made a decision when I was 11 years old to follow Christ.   But it is the RELATIONSHIP that's made the difference, not so much the choice.  The choice was my recognition of the need of a Savior, the relationship is my recognition of the need of a Friend, a Guide, a Counselor, and a Father, among so many other things.  The choice was a change in direction, the relationship is a companion along the journey.  See the difference?

I'm not speaking to you as someone who has it all figured out!  Actually, the deeper you go in the relationship, the more amazed you are at the depth of its potential!  In my experience, I've seen that God has so much more for me than what I'd ever imagined!!!  I've seen Him work in ways that are completely outside the realm of my own understanding.  In my life, it's pretty much been the equivalent of Elijah calling down fire from heaven!

So where do you begin if you want this kind of relationship with the Father?  Well, as I said before, scripture is the guideline.  The Bible is where it starts.  Find a version that is easy for you to read and understand.  Then talk to Him.  Yes, out loud.  Talk as you're driving.  Nobody is there to look at you weird.  :-)  But after you talk, LISTEN.  He'll speak in your thoughts, in things you see, in what you hear.  He will amaze you!  He's only waiting on you to ask Him.  He responds to the voice of His children, just like He expects us to respond to His voice.

Today, right now, move past an idea.  Get to know your Father.  See if one day, you don't feel the warmth of His smile, or the comfort of His still, small voice.  See if you don't have someone who follows Christ too recognize in you the "family resemblance."  I only wish I could explain the difference it's made in me!!!  And I've not even scratched the surface!!!

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THANK YOU for stopping by!  Till next time...