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Created for a Love Relationship
God created you for intimate fellowship with Him.
God pursues a love relationship with you that is real and personal. A love relationship with God is more important than any other single actor in your life.
As you accept His love and forgiveness, He wants you to know and worship Him. Most of all, He wants you to love Him.
If you cannot describe your relationship with God by saying that you love Him with all your being, you need to ask the Holy Spirit to bring you into that kind of a relationship.
The Old Testament can be summarized in Deuteronomy 6:4-5, “Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” Throughout the Old Testament, God expressed His love for people.
Quoting from Deuteronomy, Jesus said the greatest commandment in the law is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30).
Everything in your Christian life, everything about knowing Him and experiencing Him, everything about knowing His will depends on the quality of your love relationship with God. If that is not settled, nothing in your life will be in order.
Because God loves you, He wants you to love Him in return. Scriptures indicate some of the ways you can express your devotion to Him: you can choose life, listen to His voice, hold fast to Him, believe in His only Son, obey His commands and teachings, and be willing to lay down your life for your Christian brothers and sisters.
A love relationship with God is more important than any other single factor in your life.
A Love Relationship with God
If you lost all your money and possessions, but you had a vibrant walk with God, could you truly be happy? We are a doing people. We feel worthless or useless if we are not busy doing something.
Do you realize that God determined to love you? Apart from that, you never would have become a Christian. He had something in mind when He called you. He began to work in your life, and as He took the initiative, you began to experience a love relationship with God. He enlightened your understanding of spiritual matters and drew you to Himself.
Only God—who loves you with an unfathomable devotion—knows what is best for you. Only He can guide you to invest your life in worthwhile ways. This guidance will come as you walk with Him and listen to Him.
Scripture leads us to understand God is saying, “I want you to love Me above everything else. When you are in a relationship of love with Me, you have everything you need.” To be loved by God is the highest relationship, the greatest achievement, and the noblest position in life.
Do you really want to love the Lord your God with all your heart? He will allow no competitors, no money and possessions, no fame and popularity, and no power or authority.
Once your love for God is in place as your greatest priority, God will provide everything else you need.
Begin orienting your life to God’s will. Make sure you are investing your life, time, and resources in things that will last, not in things that will pass away. If you don’t recognize that God created you for eternity, you will invest in the wrong priorities. You should store up treasures in heaven.
Walking with God
After Adam and Eve sinned, they heard God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. They hid from Him because of their fear and shame. Try to sense the heart of a loving Father when He asked that tenderhearted question, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9)
When your relationship is as it ought to be, you will always be in fellowship with the Father.
Many people say, “I really struggle trying to have time alone with God.” If that is a problem you face, let me suggest something. Don’t merely discipline yourself to read your Bible and to pray as if it is a life sentence you must carry out. Instead, approach your times with God as an opportunity to get to better know someone who loves you with an infinite love. Simply making yourself read a chapter of the Bible each day and then reciting a prayer will not lead you into a deeper walk with God.
Make it the priority in your life and devotional times to love Him with all your heart. That will solve most of your problems with your quiet time. People who struggle to spend time with God don’t have a scheduling problem; they have a love problem.
The more you know Him and experience His unfathomable love, the more you will love Him. The more you love Him, the more you will enjoy spending time fellowshipping with Him.
Consider a story of Claude King, a father with a young family, who quit his job mid-career to work on a project with no known source of income. Apart from God, doing such a thing would be foolish and irresponsible. But when you do something like that as a result of your love relationship with God, nothing could be more practical! Blackaby noted, “I could tell you story after story of people who trusted God for the most pragmatic aspects of their lives and how God met every need, right on time.”
God Pursues a Love Relationship
God takes the initiative. He chooses us, loves us, and reveals His eternal purposes for our lives.
Jesus said to His disciples, “You did not choose me, but I chose you. I appointed you. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you” (John 15:16,19).
Peter responded to God’s initiative in his life (Matthew 16:13-17). In essence, Jesus said, “Peter, you could never have known and confessed that I am the Christ unless my Father had been at work in your life. He caused you to know who I am. You are responding to the Father’s activity in your life.”
God determined to love you. Apart from His work in your life, you never would have become a Christian.
A Real, Personal, Practical Relationship
God’s plan for the advancement of His kingdom depends on His relationship with His people.
God is more than a doctrine or a person in history. He wants to interact with you on a personal level today. He is also practical in how He relates to you.
From Genesis to Revelation, we see God relating to people in real, personal, and practical ways. God had wonderful fellowship with Adama and Eve, walking in the garden with them in the cool of the day.
Hagar fled for her life after Sarai used and mistreated her. When she reached the end of her resources, had nowhere else to turn, when all hope was gone, and everyone had forsaken her, God came to Hagar. In her relationship with God, she learned that God saw her, knew her needs, and would lovingly provide for her. God is extremely personal.
Hannah experienced years of disappointment and hurt. She poured out her sorrow in worship and God met her need in a very practical and powerful way, giving her a son, Samuel, the following year.
The disciples also had a real, personal, and practical relationship with Jesus. Jesus chose them to be with Him. When Jesus gave them a difficult assignment, He did not send them out without any help. He gave them instruction and authority they had never known before, even over evil spirits.
In exile on the island of Patmos, John was spending the Lord’s Day in fellowship with God. During this time of communion in the Spirit, the revelation of Jesus Christ came to John to “show his servants what soon must take place” (Revelation 1:1). This message has encouraged churches from John’s day until now.
Love must be personal and practical.
God is an extremely practical God. When He provided manna, quail, and water for the children of Israel, He was being extremely practical. When Jesus fed five thousand people, He was being practical. You can trust God to be exceedingly practical as He relates to you too.
God’s plan for the advancement of the kingdom depends on His working in real and practical ways through His relationships with His people.
No matter how far you go, no matter how hard you run, God continues to pursue you in a love relationship.
Experiencing God Today
Just as Adam and Eve walked with God in the cool of the day, set aside at least 30 minutes for a time to walk with God. If your location, physical condition, and weather permit, find a place outside to walk.
Spend time walking and talking with God. Focus your thoughts on your heavenly Father’s love for you and your love for Him. Praise Him for His love and mercy. Thank Him for expressions of His love to you. Be specific. Express your love for Him through worship.
After your walk, consider these questions:
- How did you feel as you walked and talked with God?
- What aspect of your love relationship with God did you become aware of?
- If this was a difficult or an emotionally uneasy time, why do you think it was?
- What happened that was especially meaningful or joyful?