In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth and everything in them he didn’t do it alone. He did it in the context of perfect relationship with Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Check it out for yourself and you’ll find language like this, “Let us make man in our image.” When God established the nation of Israel you’ll find God saying, “I will be their God, and dwell among them.” In the first chapter of the Gospel of John you find this phrase, “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.”
Look through out the Scriptures and you’ll find that God has always done His best work in the context of relationship. And since we’ve been made in His image, like Him, we’re also at our best when we’re living in the context of relational intimacy. We were made for it. We chase after it. But why does it seem that so few people ever actually experience it? Genesis 3:8-10 may speak into this a bit. Adam and Eve have just sinned for the first time ever in the history of man kind, and this is what happens next:
“Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” Genesis 3:8-10
Think about it for a moment. Before this moment man had never been afraid of God before, man had never run from God before, and man had never hid from God before. But ever since this moment we’ve been running from God, and from one another. It creates this awful internal conflict inside of us, because the very thing we long for is the very thing we run from.
So, a simple idea, and a simple question…if God does His best work in the context of relationship, are you missing out on God’s best work in you?
Here’s a short video that may get you thinking a little more about it…
Posted in Spiritual Formation
