A thought-provoking quote from God the Spirit, from The Valley of Vision.
When I feel my lack of [the Spirit], light up life and faith,
….for when I lose thee I am either in the dark and cannot see thee
….or Satan and my natural abilities content me with a little light,
….so that I seek no further for the Spirit of life.
Teach me then what to do.
Romans 3:27-31 (<<click here to read the passage)
In reading through this passage and the Life Application Bible notes accompanying it, my attention was drawn to a part of the note regarding verse 28.
So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law. NLT
The note reads: Faith is based on our relationship with God, not our performance for God.
Think about this for a moment. Any spousal relationship fails miserably when it is founded totally on performance. Whether we’re talking about being able to hold down a job bringing in lots of money along with an income that is ever rising or we’re talking about how much each individual contributes to household chores or preparing meals or maintaining finances and so forth – and anymore, those factors are by no means determined by gender – we run into trouble in short order. And dare we mention expecting our spouses to never let us down with how they look or what they wear or how they are at meeting our physical needs…
How about holding children to unrealistically high expectations regarding their competitiveness in academics, athletics, musicality, or any other arena? Those kinds of mindsets can lead us down some very dangerous roads.
We all want our families and our loved ones to succeed in their endeavors of life…but at what cost?
Now if performance is our sole goal, that is extremely detrimental. But…if the relationships are the core goal and that is of utmost importance, then can’t those other things factor in with great results? And if results are less than anticipated, again with solid relationships at the core, those relationships will stand strong regardless.
First and foremost, God’s goal from before the creation of the world was to be in a relationship with us – not just a king/servant relationship but an intimate relationship of parent/child. He sacrificed so much to insure the possibility of that kind of relationship. But the problem lies with us. Too often, our thoughts on the matter are, we can take it or leave it. It’s just one more thing to juggle, one more thing to check off our burgeoning list… But that mindset is distant, it is performance-based. Relationship doesn’t really factor in.
But oh, the benefits of giving ourselves over to one another! We’ve all seen couples and families who love each other with their whole beings. We long to be included in that circle, don’t we? Something so pure and accepting on all fronts is the ultimate brass ring.
The same holds true for our relationship with God. We see awesome examples of it as well. Such satisfaction in our interactions with Him – such fulfillment – such peace and contentment. And it is most certainly not beyond our reach.
Lord Jesus, we plead, give us the desire, a burning desire, for that kind of relationship first of all with You and then with each other. Fill us with Your love as we embrace it for ourselves and seek to give it away, as well. Amen.
Nov 8th, 2022, Tues, 5:30 pm
