by Chris Jay Becker

Created on: February 29, 2008

To quote an old bumper sticker: God loves you... and He has a wonderful plan for your life!

Corny, right?

Perhaps. But absolutely true.

The whole point of God creating humanity was for God to have children who desired to have a personal relationship with Him as a matter of free will. The Bible can be summarized as follows:

*God created us to fellowship with Him out of our own free wills.

*Our rebellion caused sin to enter the world.

*Sin separates us from God.

*Jesus paid the price of atonement on the cross to free us from sin.

*Because of Jesus' sacrifice, we ALL can be reconciled to God.

So then, God yearns for a people who will call His name, who will want to be with Him. It's not about how sophisticated or learned we are about theology, religion, spirituality, etc. It's about relating to God in our personal lives. Talking to God, listening to God's voice, reading His holy scriptures, loving His people. Loving ALL of His people.

The amazing thing is: once you start to enjoy God, to rest in His presence, to just plain enjoy being in His presence, you'll be surprised by the fact that He was there all the time. We want to be "spiritual" and to have some fancy Mt Sinai-like experience where we cry out "Oh, God. Come to me" across the chasm... then, suddenly, God is with us in the room saying: "What are you shouting for... I'm right here next to you."

Often we have things in our lives that make us feel like we're unredeemable, like we are not worthy to approach His presence. Usually, it's our own pride and our screwed up ideas of who God is and who we are and how we should relate to Him that keep us at a distance.

Everybody has their own style of relating to God. Personally, I'm not one of those folks who only prays in the middle of a crisis. I'm the opposite type... when "All Hell breaks lose" I try to solve it myself, I try to walk in my own strength. I run to God for piddly things, like praying that I'll make all of the red lights so I won't be late for work. Silly, but human.

We're all different, but God wants to work with us, to relate to us, to enjoy us, to love us.

The Bible testifies to the love that God has for us. "For God so loved the world... that He gave..."

To quote another old bumper sticker: "If you're far from God... guess who moved."

He's here waiting for you.

Talk to him right now.

He's waiting.

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