Luis Pino Moyano
[1] .
An approach necessary. I think before we start talking about our relationship with God, it is necessary to reflect what our concept of God, and thus what is cross our spiritual life and church. And I believe in this need because our words, and therefore our ideas, build reality (is). We move in the world of language. Therefore, there are at least three questions to ask. These are questions that I think more than anyone here will be done. 1) Who is God for me?, 2) what is the point for me to be a Christian?, And 3) what is our motivation to serve God? The first question be subject to the following two, and then, our responses are those that are shaping our current relationship with God. These lines are intended to help by drawing biblical guidelines with which we can establish a healthy relationship with God.
Many people have concepts of God. Some imagine that God is distant. The deistic ideal that says that God created the world but seeing that it had shelved it perfect. Or, simply, is a concept formed by people who had prayed for a reason and not having the expected response think God did not listen. Or because it has failed, believes that God has left that has forgotten him. That's why they have the image of a distant God, whom to please, or to be near from him, there are thousands of things to do, call them prayers, fasting, special events. Others think that God is as an employer after completing the work will provide a salary to their employees. Thus, looking to make things in the future receive crown, or another prize. That's why we have gone so far as to point out that we must earn it, forgetting that this is a gift of God, which becomes effective in us when we believed and accept God. But they are still struggling to gain salvation and receive the crown of life, and in passing preaching to win a pearl for the crown. Some see God as a judge, essentially punishing. They were heard saying: "" Brother, do not forget that God is love, but also a consuming fire. " Both are biblical truths, but taken out of context and therefore constitute mere pretext. How do they live? Fear. Afraid to do something that displeases God. They fear the coming of the Lord, fear the court of Christ, lest God punish them, even afraid of God's omniscience. If the two types of people above were designed to do, the latter are directed not to do. And apart from the biblical commandments have a long list of requirements that begin with the words "not to do." They will talk Richard J. Neuhaus when he notes that:
"The moralizing and legalizing the gospel of the grace of God is a poor heresy is spread among people who feel disappointed because they have not been disappointed thus have no reason to expect"
[2] .
For those of the first type, being a Christian is intended to close, or try to-die in the attempt, therefore, looking to God to respond. If God does, they are happy, if not, are disappointed. The second type, seeking to serve God to please. And do it all and more of what the Bible says. Their goal: an award. Living with the purpose of treading the streets of gold, sea glass, and live in the mansion that lies beyond the sun. The third type Christians seeking to escape the wrath to come. The essential doctrine of the separation would then be the literal and systematic of all things, people, objects.
None of these types of Christians achieved complete happiness of living on-and-with Christ, since in more than one occasion would be thwarted in their interests. Fail to capture the essence of the gospel, much less live, because they deal with all their efforts to create a God to their images and likenesses, and they do not live as the image and likeness of God. And in most cases, it is not their fault, but of those who have preached and taught. They have been preached a gospel of heavy, full of bitterness, which some have called poetically the thorns of a beautiful rose. They have been frightened with the second coming of the Lord and reading of Revelation, forgetting that the parousia is our Blessed Hope (Titus 2:10), and recorded by John disclosure was aimed at comfort and strengthen believers undergoing persecution fostered by the emperor Domitian, who does not hesitate to call "the resurrected Nero." The Apostle Paul invites us to love the coming of the Lord (2 Timothy 4:8). Especially
have forgotten that Christian believers are free, "because the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord, there is liberty" (2 Corinthians 3:17). The theologian Charles Swindoll defines in his book "The awakening of grace" freedom of believers of the following way:
"In essence, freedom is independence ... independence of thing and independence to do something.
Freedom is the independence of slavery and the clutches of sin. In principle, freedom from the power of sin and guilt. It is free from the wrath of God. It is free from satanic and demonic authority. And what is equally important, it frees me from the embarrassment that could lead to imprisonment and is also freed from the tyranny of opinion, impositions and expectations of others "
[3] .
That freedom is one result of the redemptive work of Christ, which is without doubt a clear and concrete love God (Romans 5:8). When one is free to live freely, and must stand on it. Also remains concerned with the approval of others, others are allowed to be who they are, refusing to live enslaved, maintaining openness about the truth and guide others to freedom
[4] .
As noted above, quoting scripture, one is free from the presence of Christ, who does not dwell in temples materials, but in our hearts. When we lived in the presence of Christ we know. And to know we can see and experience his main attribute: love. No wonder the apostle John said that "God is love" (1 John 4:8). The love of our lives expels fear, doubt, shame, guilt and allows us to experience the joyful life with the Beloved of our souls. Next to the One who lives and abides forever. When we love we do not pay or earn anything, and even more so we have no fears, but certainties. Thus it is that James I. Packer argues that:
"Both the invitation as the effectual call comes from the death of Christ to take upon himself the sins. (...) Those who receive Christ learn to give thanks for the cross as the centerpiece of God's plan of sovereign grace and salvation "
[5] .
In summary, we note that our relationship with God is sustained and solidified in his eternal love that surpasses our understanding (Jeremiah 31:3, Ephesians 3:19).
Our relationship with God: one based on love. I love interacting with a God who symbolizes his relationship with me as a parent, a boyfriend, a husband, a friend. A God who builds his relationship with me in his love (Hosea 11:1), which begins and ends there. His relationship with believers is a divine act of grace, which is synthesized by the pen masterfully Pauline says: "For whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. And whom He predestined, these He also called: and whom He called, these He also justified: and whom He justified, these He also glorified "(Romans 8:29,30). Ie, that their love was manifested in His foreknowledge, to design and establish for us an eternal purpose, to call with a message to our consciences, to make us just seen with the righteousness of the Son and, even more, their love reaches beyond of death, manifesting itself in the glorification of believers (see 1 Corinthians 15:35 and following verses). And such is the security having Paul in the love of God who dares to pose as a fact eschatological past, since it occupies the verb glorified, instead of saying glorify. It is the love of God that allows us to act in faith calling things are not like.
This leads us to declare that the love of God gives us certainty. When we know that God loves us, we believe that: a.
Our condition changes: We do not charge the price of guilt. Paul says: "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Romans 8:1). Not only that, we adopts in an irreversible act of love: "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. You have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father! The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we are glorified with Him "(Romans 8:14-17). B.
None of the situations we experience in this is compared with the glory that will live when we are with our Dear Lord for eternity: "Well, I have to consider that the sufferings of this present time are not comparable with the glory that is revealed to us" (Romans 8:18). C.
All goods and / or circumstances to live comes through in our benefit: "We know that those who love God all things work together for good, that is, who according to His purpose are called" (Romans 8: 28). D.
Nothing and nobody can hurt us, "What shall we say to this? If God be for us, who can be against us? "(Romans 8:31).
E.
Nothing can separate us from his love: Paul asks: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword "(Romans 8:35). To which responds with a hymn to divine love: "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature can separate us from love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord "(Romans 8:37-39).
That love has tremendous implications for our lives. The apostle John says in his first epistle: "And we have known and believed the love God has for us. God is love and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him. In this love is perfected in us, so we have confidence in the Day of Judgement: because as he is, so are we in this world. In love there is no fear, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. He that fears is not made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us "(1 John 4:16-19). For the love we live, we what we are, we hope, we improved and we can love. We love God simply because it is our love. It is an act of reciprocity, because it is not measured quantitatively, it is an act of the heart.
How great and ineffable God is love! Hallelujah!
Our relationship with God is a relationship of knowledge. Knowing God is one of the blessings of the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:34). Undoubtedly, one of the texts that are most impacted me in my reading of Scripture in the book of Hosea. He says: "I will betroth you to me forever; will betroth you in righteousness and justice, kindness and mercy. And I will betroth you in faithfulness, and know the Lord "(Hosea 2:19,20). It strikes me that God invites us to a love relationship with Him An eternal relationship, just, loving, loyal. But what strikes me is a relationship of knowledge. The term "know" is used in the Bible several times as a euphemism for sex. When we know God establish with him and in him, an intimate, spiritual and transcendental. This intimacy leads to the identification, complicity, convergence, dependence, ie a relationship which is needed because no one loves and she loves it necesita.
Al conocerle podemos distinguir su voz en medio de las otras voces. Jesús señaló que “Yo soy el buen pastor; y conozco mis ovejas, y las mías me conocen (…) Mis ovejas oyen mi voz, y yo las conozco, y me siguen” (San Juan 10:14,27). Su voz está registrada en Su Palabra y vive en nuestros corazones. Además, creemos que Dios sigue hablando hoy, y cuando Dios nos habla no necesitamos que se nos confirme que es Él porque le conocemos. Conocemos su tierna voz que penetra hasta lo más profundo de nuestro ser, cambiándonos y cambiándonos para bien. Conocemos esa voz, porque Dios habita en nuestros corazones. Y aquí podemos compararnos con Job cuando la Escritura states: "I know that everything you can, that no thought is hidden from you (...) I had heard from hearsay, but now my eye sees thee" (Job 42:2,5). Every moment of our life we \u200b\u200bcan see the manifestations of God. These words invite us to saturate the presence of the Almighty, so you can say "He is my God." The knowledge of God is a living knowledge and constant. It's like an endless river.
Our relationship with God is a faithful relationship. About this attribute of God, the theologian James I. Packer says
"The faithfulness of God, along with others aspects of his merciful goodness, as presented by His Word, is always a solid foundation upon which can rest our faith and our hope "
[6] .
God, being the same yesterday, today and forever, as eternal and immutable, is the quintessential faithful. The apostle John says, "If we are faithless, He remains faithful, He can not deny himself" (2 Timothy 2:13). We know that God is faithful. The question is: what about us? We can not humanly be. But that does not mean we can not become so, since "only united and committed to God is that man can be faithful, trustworthy, reliable and be firm. Therefore, an element of spirituality is unquestionable loyalty and the ability to be trustworthy. The man is faithful to obey the will of God (1 S 2.35; Ps 78.8) "
[7] . Clinging to Christ, all we can, because their power becomes our weakness into strength (Philippians 4:13). Taken only God can live a radical loyalty
Our relationship with God is manifested in sensitivity, closeness and experiences. God has a tremendous heart. A heart that feels sorry for our pains and needs, in other words, a heart that is constantly moved with compassion. Isaiah, proclaiming word of God, said: "In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and his pity he redeemed them and brought them, and all the days of old" ( Isaiah 63:9). In the book of Hosea expresses this truth eloquently: "My heart is stirred within me, ignites my mercy" (Hosea 11:8 b). He has no pleasure in rebuke or the reinforcement of the behaviors of their children. He wants his heart to swell, but with joy because we are moved by love for Him
This sensitivity is possible because God made us a close relationship. The Scripture says, "The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call on him in earnest" (Psalm 145:18), and also: "He is near me, save me" (Isaiah 50:8 a) . God does not walk in the Church or behave as a bureaucrat. He is everywhere, but above all things is in our hearts. We can go to their presence at any time and circumstances of our lives and from the place where we are.
This proximity allows our relationship to be a constant experience. Our relationship with the Lord is not based on what we heard our parents say or the Church, or what we learned by heart. Our relationship to God is based on experiences that exceed our reason. The Apostle John said, "what we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us and our fellowship is with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ" (1 John 1:3). That is what we call evidence.
Our relationship with God is manifested in our relationship with ourselves and with others. This will be addressed more specifically in other exhibitions, but we can introduce, in general, on reflection.
Our relationship with God has the power to soak our, body, soul, spirit, time, space, senses, mind, will, emotion, conscience, fellowship and creativity. That is, all areas of our lives, since the redemption accomplished by Christ on the cross was complete, covering all our being. When you understand what is worship live, because we worship. For only in God can feel complete, and therefore, fully and full and meaningful reason for living. The apostle Paul said, speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ: "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead, and you are complete in it, who is the head of all principality and power "(Colossians 2:9-10). To be full with joy we meet the "great commandment" and the "great commission", since, as JI Packer would say:
"Love is a principle of action rather than emotion. It is the decision to honor and benefit the other person. It's about doing things for people, moved by compassion for their need, whether you feel personal affection for them or not "
[8] .
When we love we give instead of receive, because it moves us the good of our neighbor. Bossuet put it in an accurate way, to make the following two sentences: "Let us be Christians, that is, we love our brothers." "He who renounces fraternal charity, renunciation of faith, abjured Christianity, moves away from the school of Christ, ie his Church"
[9] . Love for our neighbor must come from our pores. It is a condition sine qua non of a Christian. That is the essence of the gospel. Well said Jesuit Father Alberto Hurtado:
"By looking at this land that is ours, we noted the Redeemer, by looking at the ills of the moment, the precept of Christ becomes an urgent necessity: let us love one another. The sign of the Christian is not the sword, symbol of strength; and the balance, symbol of justice but the cross, symbol of love. Being a Christian means to love our neighbor as Christ loved them "
[10] .
the same pen priest
"If we could us in life make this idea: what do you think that the Heart of Jesus, who feels such a thing ...? and procurásemos think and feel like him, how glad our hearts and transform our lives! Pettiness and misery that we commit ourselves and we see being committed by our side would disappear, and our community more supernatural happiness reign and natural, greater understanding, greater respect for all our brothers, for every last deserve that we take some trouble for him, and not overlook "
[11] .
We strive and live for our society, a society in which we operate is transformed by the quickening power of Jesus Christ through the gospel message of grace and lives that carry such grace. Not enough to say or think or dream. It's time to show love, live love, give love. It is time to do works of love. Let us live happily
our relationship with God. Of a God who loves us and whom we love. That love will allow our congregations are full of enthusiasm, vitality, passion and daring. Let's take this seriously misunderstood our mentality, because we have no evil smile on the faces that God created. We have no evil, because we are not like the clowns who sometimes have to fake a smile. Our happiness is not based or time or possessions or anything of this life, because as I said the Qohelet: "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity" (Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12:8). Our happiness is supported by the One who lives and abides forever, and subject to his love.
rejoice, because "the dawn shines with the light of grace" (Swindoll).
