Word for Today, Wed, 21 Jul 2004: A Personal Relationship
Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>
Dear friends,
"I want to know you more". Those are a few of the words in a
song. They are also the first thing we think of and say when we
meet someone interesting, especially if they captivate our
hearts.
God wants to be such a person in each of our lives. He wants an
intimate relationship, a unique relationship, and a personal
relationship with each of His people. Having given each of us a
mind and a will, God foreknew that not everyone would voluntarily
seek Him. In fact, the God who knows all things already knows
who has an eternal home in heaven and who doesn't, though we
really don't know that.
We can, however, be assured of an eternal home in heaven by
taking God at His Word, believing both His Word and His promises,
which are good, right, and true. God wants a personal
relationship with us. Is that what we really want, too, or are
they merely words that some of us say to impress ourselves or
others?
I believe what God says. I believe that the Word, (Jesus
Christ), the Name, the Logos, the spoken, breathed Word of God
became a person with real flesh and lived among people. He was
fully God and fully man. His name is Jesus. Only God can
forgive sins. Jesus is God. Not only does He forgive sins, He
BECAME sin, substituting in our place. He took upon Himself our
sins. That is why He was crucified, and why God the Father
permitted it. Jesus' selfless act was the only thing that could
draw us back to God. I'm drawn to Him. Are you?
Yours in Christ,
Brian
____________________________________________________________
by Neil Anderson
July 21
A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP
John 1:14
The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His
glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of
grace and truth
What effect did the Fall produce in Adam's mind? He and Eve
lost their true perception of reality. We read in Genesis 3:7,
8, that they tried to hide from God. Doesn't that reveal a
faulty understanding of who God is? How can you hide from God?
After the Fall, Adam and Eve weren't thinking straight.
In essence, when Adam and Eve sinned, their minds were robbed
of the true knowledge of God. In God's original design,
knowledge was relational. Knowing someone implied an intimate
personal relationship. You can see it in Genesis 4:1: "Adam knew
Eve his wife; and she conceived" (KJV). Yet we don't generally
equate a knowledge of someone with personal intimacy.
Before the Fall, Adam and Eve knew God, not sexually of
course, but in the intimacy of a close, personal relationship
which we associate with marriage. They knew God by being with
God. When they sinned and were banished from the garden, Adam
and Eve lost their relationship with God and the knowledge of God
which was intrinsic to that relationship. And you and I
inherited Adam and Eve's darkened mind. Before Christ, we knew
something about God, but we didn't know God because we had no
relationship with Him.
The necessity of being in relationship to God in order to
know God comes into sharp focus in John's announcement: "The
Word"-- logos in the Greek--"became flesh" (John 1:14). The word
logos represented the highest form of philosophical knowledge.
For the Greeks, saying that the logos became flesh was the same
as saying that ultimate knowledge became personal and relational.
God was announcing to the world through John: The true knowledge
of God, which can only be discovered in an intimate relationship
with God, is now available to the world through God in the
flesh--Jesus Christ. In Christ we are able to know God
personally, not just know about Him.
Prayer:
Lord, I thirst for deeper intimacy in my relationship with You. I
want to know You more personally today.
=====
--
Brian Masinick, mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
Home page: http://www.geocities.com/masinick/
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