A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD OUR FATHER

Relationships are such a good thing and they are exciting. They are the most important aspect of our lives-our relationships with our parents, boyfriend or girlfriend, husband or wife, children, grandchildren, friends and so on.

In the same way, Christianity is first and foremost about relationships rather than rules. It is about a person more than a philosophy. It is about the most important relationship of all: Our relationship with God who made us, the universe and all that is in it.

Jesus said that the first and greatest commandment is this, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, and the second is, love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-39). The first commandment is to love God wholesomely and the second is also still about our relationships with other people.

You and I were created to live in a relationship with God. Until we find that relationship their will always be something missing in our lives. As a result, we are often aware of a gap. One singer Don Moen sung this, There is a longing only you can fill, a raging tempest only you can still, my soul is thirsty Lord to know you as I am known, Drink from the river that flows before your throne.

There is a longing each one of us has and some young people describe it as a missing chunk or missing part of their lives. People try to fill the emptiness in various ways. Some try to close the gap with money but it does not satisfy.  Aristotle Onassis, who was one of the richest men in the world, said at the end of his life that millions do not always add up to what a man needs out of life. Others try drugs, alcoholism and sexual promiscuity. But all these things may provide instant gratification but they leave you hollow afterwards. For other people, they try hard work, music, sports or seek success. There may not be anything wrong with these in themselves but they do not satisfy that hunger and longing deep inside every human being. Even the closest human relationships wonderful as they may be, do not in themselves satisfy this emptiness deep inside.

The reason for this emptiness is that men and women have turned theirs backs on God. Therefore, nothing will fill this gap except the relationship with God for which we were made. Will you consider being part of this relationship?