114 - Relationship with God (Part 1)
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Connected to God
In order to grasp experiencing a connected relationship with God, we are often taught that our theology brings us close to God.
While theology offers us an understanding of God, apologetical thinking about God, and cognitive experiences of believing in God, it does not give us closeness to God.
When the anthropology (the study of humankind) of how God created us meets the theology (the study of God) of who God is and how God operates, we can have closeness to God.
Anthropology + Theology = Experiencing Relational Closeness to God
Simply put, when the heart of a human being has come to a place of admitting his/her neediness for more than what we can manufacture ourselves, we naturally “cry out.” We “cry out” to have more than what we can manufacture by ourselves.
This “cry out” from our own neediness opens the door to the “touch of God.”
The Spiritual Root System (SRS) offers a clear description of the heart of humans and the foundation of our anthropology. We are God-made, but we can “run from” facing our need of Who made us.
The SRS describes how God created us to find fulfillment in relationship.
The SRS also describes how our anthropology attaches to a theology that begins with the need for an “Omni-relational” God.
God created us to find fulfillment in relationship.
God desires to have relationship with us as His people.
The heart of the human being is the “attachment” center. If the heart is not available, then relational intimacy with God or anyone else is not possible.
Proverbs 4:23 speaks to the value of the heart:
“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” (NIV)
Every feeling, every need, all desire, our longings, and our hope come from the heart.
We have a significant tendency to despise our neediness or to be ignorant of its vitality, and, therefore, we tend to find a multitude of forms to express our dependency without having to be vulnerable.
This unwillingness or ignorance about neediness and vulnerability leads to all forms of addiction and other maladies.
We must never underestimate the power of a human being when it comes to unwillingness. Humans are capable of refusing their own neediness and the vulnerability that it creates.
Jesus, in the Parable of the Sower, speaks to the power of our unwillingness and the power of neediness.
In Matthew 13:14-15 (NIV) Jesus says:
You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.
Psalm 8, likewise, speaks to the “strength” that God has established in us as infants. This strength of dependence and heart is not meant to be given up, but instead grown through dependence and trust in our Creator.
Psalm 8: 3-5 (NIV) states metaphorically that while we are not “big” compared to the universe, we are definitely a “bid deal” to God and very important for the earth.
We are created to ask, seek, and knock as Jesus says in Matthew 7:7 (NIV), and we are also created to recognize the same neediness in others and do to them as we would have them do to us. The “Golden Rule” is found in Matthew 7:12 (NIV).
Image-bearers of God
Our neediness “opens” up the treasure trove of God’s goodness for us to witness.
God did not send Jesus to save the worthy or the worthless. Jesus came to save who God says is “worth” the pain of His love expressed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
We are the image-bearers of God, created by God, and deemed to have great worth. He came to return and bring our worth into closeness to Him.
We have to struggle. We are born to be able to struggle.
Genesis 32 tells the story Jacob’s craving; his journey to return home; and the crisis and blessing of wrestling with “The Man”.
At day break, “The Man” (who theologically is thought to be Jesus) said that Jacob must let him go. Jacob, who continued the fight said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” The man simply “touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that it was wrenched.” (Genesis 32:25 NIV). It takes significant force to separate the ball and socket of the hip, meaning that “The Man” could have been done at any time.
After his hip was dislocated, Jacob received a new name. He would no longer be called Jacob, which means to deceive. He would be called Israel, which means to struggle with God and prevail.
Everyone who finds the humility that a “limp” brings and who struggles with God, will prevail.
God calls us to be truthful in our need as humans.
When we are truthful in our struggle, we find that God is faithful in tragedy and in what we call “regular life.”
We are created to and called to bring our feelings, needs, desire, longings, and hope to God. That vulnerability leads to God’s strength in us.
Intimacy with God begins when we open our hearts to let God know where we are emotionally and spiritually.
“Draw near to God and he will come near to you.” (James 4:8)
Dr. Chip Dodd
Voice of the Heart Center
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