God and People

As you can probably see, I have been on the theme of relationships lately. I have been thinking a lot about how we are meant to be in relationship with God and with people at the same time – and how to live that out. There are right ways and wrong ways. Like I said in my last post, it is possible to focus on God’s gifts (which definitely include people) more than on God, the Father. He is the giver and He is so good. But yet, God made us to be in relationship with people as well as with Himself.

 God didn’t leave Adam alone in the garden. God saw that it wasn’t good for Adam to be alone (Gen 2:18). Even though Adam had a perfect relationship with God, his Father, he didn’t have any human companions. God saw this as something that was not good. Even though God was good, He knew that Adam also needed a human friend. That speaks volumes about the importance of human companionship. It is not the most important thing (our friends are not God; we should not rely on them as we should rely on God), but the most perfect time and place in creation was incomplete without there being relationship with other people. The garden was incomplete for Adam without human companionship. Why? The answer is because Adam was human, and God made us to need each other. God made us be a family – God and Himself (the Trinity), people and God, people and people. That’s a remarkable thing (especially the last one). It is amazing that in comparison with people needing God, it is also so that people need people. And God made us that way.

So God put us here. Now we have relationship with Him. That is awesome, it truly is. There is no one like God. But we are also in relationship with people. Here’s the thing: people are no longer perfect as they were in the garden after the creation of the world. We are broken now; we have been broken by sin. As Christians, we as people are redeemed from sin and live in right relationship with God. But we also have to live in relationship with people. How do we do this? What’s more, how do I live loving and respecting God as the first person in my life while also being in companionship with others around me? How do I live first with God, but function properly in my relationship with God when I was not also designed to live without people? How curiously we are made.

It’s all about balance. I have been realizing that, yes, I need to put God first in my life (it is the way I am meant to live; submitting everything to God ensures that I am walking in His plan, which means He is steering the ship of my life and avoiding any rocks that might be waiting to take me down), but I also shouldn’t be afraid to let people in and tell them what is going on. God gave me friends for a reason, and one of those reasons is for me to have people to go to during difficult times. That’s what friends are for – we are there for each other. That’s the beauty of a mutual friendship: we give to each other, and don’t leave the other person behind. One person takes care of the other, and the other takes care of the one. God has been showing me awesome stuff about Himself, but part of that awesome stuff is that He has given me people to be part of my life. That has been pretty mindblowing, because in the past I thought that I would have to go through life alone. Now I am beginning to see that not only is God beside me, but He is putting people beside me to lift me up. We are meant to support each other as a family, with God at the head. 

Postscript

Honestly, I look at myself now compared to where I was even a few weeks ago, and I realize that God is really changing me for the better.  He is recreating who I am. He is talking to me and providing for me in every area - every single area! - and He is giving me hope. He is giving me hope! He is giving me hope for the future, like no one has ever done before (and no one but God ever could do it). That's who God is - hope flows out of His person. Jesus brought hope and life wherever He went, and demonstrated that God the Father also brings hope to people. That is His heart. And I pray that you see His hope today. :) 

Father, give these people hope. Give them hope for right now, and hope for where they are going tomorrow. Give them hope for their entire lives, and help them see that You are the giver of life and of hope. Help them see that You take away sorrow and heal brokenness and pain. Help them turn to You, the Giver of Life. Amen. :)