“A rich relationship with God.” Luke 12:21 NLT
“A right relationship is the entry point for a rich relationship, both life-long and eternal.”
My thoughts today are that “relationship is important.”
Relationships are important. The best of life is empty without them. You can seem to have everything, but if you lack mutual and meaningful relationships what you have will never be enough. The best of good things can never substitute for a good family and friends. That’s where a true richness of life can be found.
It is easy to be occupied with what you think God wants from you, and offer Him many good and worthwhile things. All the while, you could fail to give God the one thing that He most wants from you – yourself! The reality is that God is not dependent on you and I for anything that He cannot readily and abundantly provide for Himself. Except for one thing that only you can give Him, your love and your life. See Romans 12:1-2 NIV. Your life is a gift from God; what you do with your life is your gift to God.
God most wants from you, and wants most for you, is a rich relationship with Him – an experience of closeness that is fulfilling and life affirming. Reading the entirety of today’s verse addresses the absence of that kind of relationship, “A person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.” Luke 12:21 NLT.
Make no mistake; Jesus is not speaking against wealth. He is warning against the folly of thinking that wealth could ever be enough without a rich, personal relationship with God. This warning is not about just wealth; it is about anything or anyone that you accept as a substitute for the one relationship that you cannot be without.
“Tell those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which will soon be gone. But their trust should be in the living God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment . . they should be rich in good works . . by doing this they will be storing up treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of real life.” 1 Timothy 6:17-19 NLT.
Life is about relationship. Your spiritual life is not about religion; it is also all about relationship – a righteous relationship with God and right relatedness with others. Jesus’ sacrifice was to reconcile you to God. Read 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 NIV. Offering you a right relationship is the entry point for a rich relationship with God that is both life-long and eternal.
What would you think that such a relationship with God would look like for you? What do you think would be required for you to have such a relationship with God? I would suggest to you that a rich relationship with God would be mutual, authentic, practical, loving, continually transforming, and growing.
My prayer for you today is: know God in a way that transforms who you are and shapes what you do.