Relationships

Relationships

3/27/13

Many of us read the Bible and try and figure out why God chose specific people to spread His message that He desires a relationship with mankind.  The same occurs in today’s world as well and in both instances it seems like God chooses the most obscure methods to convey His words by using these men who are considered worthless or on the sidelines of society.  But this method represents the importance that God does care for even the little people of the world and the He wishes to be with even them on a daily basis.

All of humanity desires to have a relationship of some kind with as many people as possible.  There is no way that we can establish ties with people if there is not some kind of communication and interaction with others.  Even if a person does not really wish to have direct interactions with people at some point they will be forced to concede their hermit behavior and accept others into their personal surroundings.

There are numerous levels of relationships that we can choose to have with other people.  One of the most common levels is that of a business relationship.  Businesses all around the world have to have communication and other types of interactions with people in order to keep their business operating and functioning.  This type of relationship usually does not allow for personal knowledge of each other but it still provides a level of information about each other that some general acceptances can be made about others.

Distant friendships or an acquaintance is another type of relationship that really does not have direct and constant contact with those who we might recognize when we are walking down the street in our local town.  Also these people would fall into a category that when one of their children became sick or got injured in a sporting event we would know them well enough to ask them about their conditions but not much more would be warranted.  And further these would be people who you would see at church or in the grocery store on a routine basis but still do not know the intimate details of their lives.

Then there is the type of relationships that all of us desire the most which are ones that develop over a period of time and the development of the relationship continues to grow at a steady pace for many years and hopefully a lifetime.  These type relationships are far and few between and when found should be cherished and nurtured because not many of these types of relationships will come around.  These relationships are lifelong friendships where that friend knows you inside and out and even knows when something is wrong in your life, even if they have not any communication about the problem.  In these relationships the heart is involved which requires growth and grooming, which is an important aspect of this type of relationship.  These relationships are ones that develop between husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, two or four friends that have stuck around no matter what your circumstances were at the time, and God.  Yes God fits into this category and I will delve into that area a bit more in a bit.

In human terms having a relationship with someone, on any level, represents acceptance and we all want to be accepted in life.  All of us look different, sound different and even come from various cultures which create an interesting mixture within our societies.  But this diversity does not mean that we have to isolate ourselves when we come into contact with those that we do not get along with, we still have to live with these people and it is important that we find some common ground, or relationship, in order to function together.

Humans also have a wonderful feature about them that places a twist into these relationship patterns and it is called the gift of choice.  For some reason humans love to stir up controversy in their own lives and in the lives of others.  The capability of having this type of activity has allowed humans to act as human wrecking balls and we have loved the option so much that we have perfected this choice as an art for thousands of years.  It is the one gift that actually divides and conquers the human race all at one time.  It is alive and well within our lives today and from all indications we have no intentions of impeding its perfection levels within our society.

I find it fascinating to read about how much energy we spend trying to implement the destruction of relationships amongst mankind.  We convey our feelings through the usage of choices, which is a wonderful aspect of human life, but we then go overboard with these choices as abuse their meaning by manipulating conversations, potential relationships, and even relationships in order to maintain our choice.  And I find even more fascinating and silly sometimes of how humans behave when people do not share the same ideas as others do.  This is a part of our nature and we should not allow this type of behavior become a destructive and divisive force within our lives.

The gift of choice can come with a huge price as well.  We are currently witnessing this occur on a wide scale level throughout the world and no better of an example is that of Cyprus.  The level of relationship in this situation is on many levels and it all has to do with trust.  The government of Cyprus has dug itself a huge hole financially and has been told to correct it immediately or face expulsion from its overall governing organization.  So, the government of Cyprus decided to alleviate this situation by freezing all of the bank accounts of those who had accounts and will now take money from their accounts to pay off their national debt.  In other words, the government is literally robbing the people, a good ole’ western style bank robbery if you wish to place it those terms.

This was a choice of the people to trust the government with their wages and it also sets into play a line that now can be followed by other governments to pay off their debts; as many times as they wish I guess.  But let us think about how many times we ourselves have done this type of activity to one or more of our friends.  All of us have fit into that category in some fashion, with some of us performing this “accomplishment” more than once.  It does not matter what level of relationship you are speaking about, once the trust is betrayed it is very hard to trust that person on the same level again.  So I guess that what the government of Cyprus has done is just a continuation, or progression, of the individual human mind that we have done for thousands of years.  Think about the progression process here and then stop for a minute and think about what could be the next step that could happen.  Scary, eh.

This act of betrayal or choosing not to have a relationship with others is a pattern item that we can see in many areas.  It is a part of the choice apparatus that we have been blessed with.  For God to create in us this option of choice was a stroke of genius, and we as humans will never truly and completely understand, also we use this option on a constant basis but it is one that we have no immediate realization of its ultimate authority within our lives.  For instance, most of us do not realize that even though we have the option to choose who we have a relationship with God does not have that option and I thank Him daily that He does not.

When God created us He set us apart in a very unique manner.  He gave us many tools to help us get through this live and choice is one of them, along with relationships.  It is amazing to see how these two phenomena interact with each other in our lives and seeing the product of this interaction being portrayed to the public.  In a world that boasts about how educated we are, we continually fail to see this simple interaction that causes so much strife between individuals and cultures.  And since we do not recognize that God does not have this option we also forget that it is our enemy who is actually manipulating these interactions in order to divide us further from God and each other.

Since God does not have a choice in this manner He must have had to come up with an idea of how to insure that we understand that He cannot choose to abandon us.  Being human we continually experience life circumstances that bring us disappointment and none hurt worse when they come from another human, so being the loving creator that He is, God created an act that symbolizes His commitment to our lives.  This commitment is called a covenant.  The word commitment proves to be a disservice to the entire concept of covenant but there are few words in the modern languages that could accurately describe the level of relationship that it entails.

I will not be going into the covenant side of things in this article but I want to line out the basic concepts of just how serious God is about developing, keeping and having a relationship with us.  There are some things about God that our finite minds cannot comprehend, this is a fact that we must accept and some of these characteristics of God can be difficult to explain in terms that we can understand.  Having a covenant is one of them in the case that a covenant cannot be broken, only violated.  God is Holy in every way possible which means once He establishes something He cannot undo it and He has applied this fact to His “commitment” to humans.

The examples of covenant in the Bible deal with how much God is willing to invest into our lives but many of us fail to see this aspect.  The act of covenant deals with God actually committing to defend our relationship with Him with His life.  Think about this for a moment.  God is eternal and can never die, in any form, shape or fashion yet He would lay down His life for us to reach out and show us just how far He would go to keep our relationship with Him.  When God introduces covenant to man He consumes the offering that is prepared per His instructions.  He has a waiting period for the person to make the choice to accept this relationship based upon the limited knowledge that man can have about God.  He gives a symbol of the relationship to man so that everyone will know just how important the relationship is and to what extent God will defend it. 

The part we always look at and focus upon is the fact that if we violate this covenant God has the authority to destroy our lives in such a manner that even our own individual molecules will never be able to acknowledge their existence again.  Since God is eternal that leaves only one party of the covenant that has the capability to make the choice to leave or to violate it and that party would be the human.  We know that we will violate it, this is a fact and there is nothing that we can do about it.  However, since God created us and loves us so much, He is willing to accept us back into covenant as long as we are willing to give up the issues that are responsible for the violation.  In other words, we have to give up self in order to fully live in His light.

Another concept comes into play at this stage of the game and that is humans will now ask why God would do something like this.  It is a logical process because man possesses the inner conscious that continues to show us our mistakes.   It is the way God shows us that we cannot be dependent on anyone else other than Him.  It is His ways that are just and true and no matter how hard we try man’s ways are flawed and selfish in nature.  Covenant is an excellent way to take all the pressure off of our lives so concerning relationship because it automatically sets the level as intimate, personal and Holy all at once. 

Another type of human relationship anomaly that I will mention here, is the way humans wish to have a relationship with others but keep the level of that relationship at a distance.  Many of us like to enter into these relationships because it is safe and there is no real commitment that is involved on both sides.  However, we know that these types of conditions actually do the same amount of damage or for some even more damage when they fall apart.  This is another choice type relationship that is available for the human, but it does not apply to God in any way.  God does not do things half way which is a blessing in disguise for us.  God loves us without borders and His covenant stretches to us in the same manner.  God cannot love us from a distance for if He could love in this manner His ways would be considered flawed.  God loves us through His heart and His love grows for us each day of our life.  WE may choose to keep God at a distance but God does not reciprocate the gesture.  He continually looks at our hearts and touches parts of our hearts in a way that allows us to know that He is still there.  God will never force His love on to our lives, the acceptance of His ways are still our choice.

I have written this not to condemn personal relationships and to place any doubt about having human relationships with each other.  Human relationships will have their ups and downs and this will not change.  In fact having a good relationship with another person is a prime example of what kind of relationship God wishes to have with us.  However the difference is that God will never forsake His relationship with us unlike the human patterns that can present themselves.  Relationships are what strengthen the human heart and that is why it hurts when they go wrong but fly when they grow.

God shall never run from us, He will run towards us if we allow Him to do so.  His covenant relationship with us is eternal and eternally bonded to Him without exceptions.  God desires a personal and intimate relationship with each and every one of us, not one that will falter or die off at some point in time but one that is full of life and freedom that cannot be described.  The job of our enemy is to provide the opposite in our lives and so far he has done a masterful work in this area.  For those who do not know that God wants to have a relationship with you He does, and for those who have known this but have not adhered to it, He is ready to restore that relationship with you. 

DLB