There Is A Method Right?? (My New Toy Part 3)

On the way home from a party tonight my friend Ed and I decided to stop by Starbucks on the way home. I had this wicked craving for a Strawberries and Crème, and Ed was not opposed to going, so we went. While we were getting our drinks made we were having a wonderful conversation with a guy that works there. Everything was great. I got to hang out with some friends from church, get a great drink on the way home, and cruse home to some great music.

We were only a couple minutes from my place and then it happened. I had taken for granted my ability to breath and drink. I did both at the same time. At once I new what was wrong and reached for the window switch, but it was too late, I was not going to be able to get the window down before the Strawberries and Crème came back up. I clinched my mouth shut, to keep the drink from splattering all over the windshield of Ed’s car. Finally I could not hold it back any longer and did one of those coughs where the drink comes up, but still tried to keep the drink in my mouth. This really weird noise came out, causing Ed to burst into laughter. At first he thought I was just doing one of my random noises to joke with him, but by the time he realized what was happening I was okay. Slowly the coughing subsided and I went back to drinking my drink.

I forgot there is a way that we must combine drinking and breathing at the same time. When we do this process incorrectly we project out whatever we just drank, and feel this burn in our lungs like something is wrong. We can do both, but we must do them right.

Everything has a process, starting a car, making coffee, cooking dinner, and so on. Is there a process to our relationship with God? Yes, but it is simpler then we might think. Jews back in the Old Testament times had to make sacrifices to God and follow rules and guidelines in order to maintain a relationship with God. Muslims must pray facing a certain way, to speak to Allah. Christians sometimes feel that God is to be held up to a high holy place, unapproachable unless you are wearing your best. Now come on that’s not biblical, especially in the post Old Testament times.

God is to be enjoyed, and that is biblical. Psalm 16:1137:4, 43:4, 63:3, 90:14, 100:2, Deuteronomy 28:47-48, Matthew 5:11-12, 25:21, John 15:11,Romans 5:3, 2 Corinthians 1:24, 6:10, Philippians 4:4, Hebrews 12:2, James 1:2, 1 Peter 4:13, and more. Not to mention great authors of old would expound on this joy; Saint Augustine, Blaise Pascal, Jonathan Edwards, C.S. Lewis, and Martin Luther.

For most of my life I lived under this thinking that God was like roality. When you visit a King or President of a nation, you wear your best and act in a certain proper way. You have reservations about being unreserved in their presence; after all they are the leader of a nation. Why would I not view God the same way, He is the ruler of all that we see. He is in control of everything, so why would I not treat Him in that manor.

The biggest example of my view on God comes from Jesus. Above all Jesus loved on people. He did not care about their social status or what clothes they wore, He loved them regardless. Above everything else Jesus sought a relationship with those around Him.

If ever there was a book I would suggest to a fellow Christian to read it would be John Piper’s “Desiring God”. I have only had my copy for a year now and still cannot put it down. Sure it looks like a long book at first, having almost 400 pages to it, but the last 40 are reference pages. If you can read a long book life Harry Potter, you can read “Desiring God”. It is a well thought out book on the aspect of enjoying God.

Once I truly, truly, truly enjoyed God everything changed. Once I enjoyed God I was more inclined to pick my bible up and read it. Once I enjoyed God, I enjoyed life a whole lot more.

There is a process to our relationship with God, and I would compare it to the way you might develop a relationship with a friend. First you enjoy their presence, and hanging out with them/Him. Then you might try learning things about them/Him. Then you always look forward to strengthening your relationship with them/Him. The way God strengthens our relationship is sometimes by having us go through tough times. God was trying to strengthen my relationship with Him, and I had lost focused of what was important.