ITS A RELATIONSHIP
PART 8
PART 8
".....To know......the only true God and Jesus Christ...." (John 17:3).
*
 |
| BETWEEN GOD AND MANKIND |
From
this perspective, this is the first covenant, between God and man, though
unspoken or reported in scripture.
Covenants
are God’s idea and not man’s anyway. Covenants are unique to God and are his
holy pattern for establishing relationships between himself and mankind throughout
history.
God
always initiates and establishes his covenant with mankind and not the other way
around (Genesis 6:18, 9:9).
Remember,
a covenant, in simple terms, is an unbreakable agreement, between two parties, to come
together, in respective roles, to keep and bestow each other with promises,
privileges, compliances, and responsibilities until death do them part.
God
initiated a covenant with man (Adam & Eve) to be fruitful, multiply, fill,
subdue, and take dominion in their role and he would be husband/owner in his
role.
God
fulfilled his role and Adam (Eve) fulfilled their role. God initiates the covenant relationships, like
in Genesis, with promises (to bless, provide, care for, etc,) and mankind (like
Adam/Eve) responds “….it was very good…”
 |
| 2 CORINTHIANS 5:7 |
A
faith response is active and will lead you to follow after God’s commands.
An
example of a faith response is when God commands you not to lie and when the
opportunity to lie shows up; you don’t lie (this is the response).
The
opposite of a faith response is when you ignore what God commands about lying
and you lie instead.
You
ignore God’s word anywhere in your life you pay no heed to, disregard, or don’t
follow after God’s instructions for your life.
It’s
that simple. A little bit of sin is still SOME sin. A little white lie, blue lie,
purple lie, or red lie; is still a LIE.
When
we ignore God; God remains faithful to his responsibility towards you anyway.
 |
| LOVE ONLY AGENDA IS LOVE |
God’s
kind of love relinquishes any expectation of love in return from you. God will
never force his commands on you, but will allow you to voluntarily follow after
them.
One
misunderstanding of God’s kind of love is that many mistakenly believe that God
doesn’t desire or long for their love in return, but that’s not true.
God wants your love and not your religious
practices (Hosea 6:6). Just like with Israel,
he “…did not set His love on you nor
choose you….” for any of your particular qualities, “…but because [He] loves you…..”
God,
of course, wants your love in return (Deuteronomy 7:7). It simply means that
God’s love is not demanding, does not expect, or force you to love him in
return, but patiently desires for you to freely love Him on your own volition.
This
kind of Godly love is easily taken for granted and abused. Why?
God
is love, but you are not. God has made a loving commitment with you, but maybe
you have not made one with God.
However,
if you continually remain unresponsive and ignore the love of God, within the
covenant “oneness” relationship; it deteriorates.
Just
like in a human relationship; you must interactive with one another and work
together to keep the commitment to one another.
God’s
love is always available and unchanging, but YOURS IS NOT (Romans 8:31-39).
For
instance, when you don’t respond to God’s love, eventually your part in the relationship
stops, dies out or abandons.
 |
| TO GOD'S LOVE |
You
cannot love God until you know “HOW” he loves you. Nothing can separate you
from God’s love, which keeps God in right standing with you.
Things,
however, separate God from your love, which impacts your (not
God’s) right standing with him.
You
can’t blame God for all your misery and unhappiness within the YADA
relationship. You willfully respond to life or God's love as you please or desire. God’s love is unconditional, but yours is not.
Further,
God’s love is unconditional, but man’s love is usually conditional for God and
others.
 |
| ONLY GOD'S LOVE IS UNCONDITIONAL |
Therefore,
it is not God’s love for you that is ever in question; it is your love for God that’s
in question.
God’s
is love. Love’s only agenda is love. It was Adam and Eve’s response to Satan
that changed their loving relationship with God. God didn’t change the
relationship; they did.
Back in the Garden of Eden, the loving relationship
didn’t last and soon man was divorced from the loving, covenant relationship
with God.
When
Adam and Eve ignored their part of the covenant with God, it created one of the
worst divorces ever known to mankind.
This
became an ongoing pattern with man throughout biblical history and it is clear
from the Old Testament writings, that God’s OWN people often broke their part
of the covenant (Jeremiah 3:8).
 |
| broken covenant |
Centuries
would past before God enjoys a lasting YADA relationship again.
Jesus came forth as the
predestined savior and as a forerunner for the new covenant YADA relationship
between God and the believer
Anyhow, back in Eden, one wrong respond
severed the YADA relationship between Adam/Eve and God forever.
From that moment on the YADA
relationship, between God and mankind, has had multiple issues and problems…until Jesus. What really happened?
Adam, with the innate ability to
freely respond to life, responded against God’s loving will for his life.
 |
| FELL AWAY FROM GOD |
From that point on, humanity could
no longer enjoy the innocent and sweet communion with God no matter how hard
they tried.
Therefore, mankind’s relationship
with God and each other has been dysfunctional ever since Genesis chapter three.
Not only has the fall created a horrendous
distance from God, but also his “kind” of love. Man has only known a seriously
reduced and distorted type of love.
Loving relationships are the
highest call on the believer’s life, yet they are the most abused among mankind.
God’s love should be the primary witness
and focus of all Christian relationships and ministries.
 |
| MARK 12:28-31 |
The Believer’s
relationship with God and each other are some of the worst ever. Christian divorces are as high as divorces in
the secular community.
EXCERPT FROM THE CHAPTER
"ITS A RELATIONSHIP" FROM THE
BOOK TRANSFORMING LOVE
No comments:
Post a Comment