If relationship with God is a beautiful country. This essay is an attempt to zoom out and see an aerial view of the landscape. It is very easy to get focused on the specific wood or field that we as an individual are walking through. We get focused on what we are going through and forget that we can see only a small part of a larger country. So we’re going to think and try to understand what a relationship with God is all about. It’s always a good idea, when you are trying to understand something is to ask, is this something the goal I’m trying to achieve or the way I’m going to achieve my goal. The ends ares results and the means are the way we achieve results.
As I’ve thought more about relationship with God, it seems that such a relationship is not merely a means nor is it an end but it is both. Each time we reach the “end” that end merely becomes a means for an end still further along. I think of it as a great spiral ascending into eternity. God has been in relationship with Himself since eternity past and will continue for all eternity future. He created us within space and time for numerous reasons, some we know, some are beyond us. We have the choice to join in that spiral and ascend into eternity with God.This sort of journey is different from the way we are used to thinking. Normally we think of means and ends in finite terms. Like a number line. Imagine number 10 being the goal we’re striving for. To reach that goal we use the other numbers, 9+1=10, 8+2=10 7+3=10 ect.. and we can come up with dozens of ways with which to reach the number ten. However once we've reached 10 we have accomplished our goal and we need another goal. God is not something that can be reached in the same way. He can be reached but not completed. Like the process of becoming a good musician or artist. A person may legitimately be an artist but that doesn’t mean they are done with art. They may have walked half a mile into a world that very few people every walk more than a few steps into but that doesn’t mean they have conquered that world. Our relationship with God is not something we complete. It is something we use to achieve a greater relationship with God. A never ending cycle of growing. This cycle is shown all the virtues. God desires us to be humble, to be kind, to be gentle, to be loving. These are things you don’t ever really get. You can always become a more gentle person and even when on the scale of humility you surpass everybody else you are not done with humility. All the commands of |God are wrapped up in our relationship with Him. It doesn’t really matter the vocabulary I use. If I pursue biblical, Orthodox, humility than I will develop my relationship with God. Conversely if I pursue a biblical Orthodox relationship with God I will become a more humble person. It doesn't matter so much which good thing you pursue because all virtues are of God and in discovering a virtue you’ll find God who will than teach you all other virtues.
At first glance this may be discouraging. It may appear that I’m describing an endless eternity of doing hard things to make God happy. Imagine forever having to do stuff God wants. If imagining that is unpleasant, the problem is not with God or with how He created us. The trouble is that what we want is not the same as what God wants. If we wanted the same thing as God the prospect of being in an eternal relationship with Him wouldn't be sad...it would be awesome. But it is sad or not very exciting for some of us. If I write a list of all the things I would like to do. Than write a list of all the things God would like me to do. The lists would look very different. Jesus says….
‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Loving God changes the list of things I want to do into a list identical into the things God wants me to do. How do I love God if I don’t love him yet? Love is many things. Jesus commands three types of love. Mental love, soul love and heart love. The mind represents understanding. To Love God with our mind means we understand what it is He wants from us and how to do it. To love God with our soul is to desire His glory and His pleasure. To love God with our heart is to like Him. To like Him, to like doing His work. When we love God with our hearts we’ll honestly enjoy life. Our minds and souls are necessary for obeying God the heart is required for us to enjoy it.
So the relationship we should have with God is characterized by three types of love. Love of the mind, love of the soul and love of the heart. Understanding this is important. Now we know we have something to pursue, we have a vision of that first three steps on the eternal spiral.
How do we now proceed? This part is simple but difficult. It’s often the case within Christianity that it’s not complicated just hard. This is the case here. What is important is to find the virtue most practical and use that as the foundation for your relationship with God. If you are lazy develop diligence. If you are proud develop humility. Use the tools God gave us to get to know Him. God created the church, He left us the scriptures, He allows us to talk with Him. These three things are enough to get anyone to love God with their heart mind and soul.
1. God doesn’t command us to do anything we can’t do.
2. God’s given us tools to accomplish His commands that we can’t do on our own.
3. God commands us to love Him with every part of our being.
4. If you don’t love God right now, there must exist tools that will help you to love Him.
This concludes my long rambling train of thought which originated at the station of frustration at the common misunderstanding associated with the term, "relationship with God". Good day.
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