Dogs love attention, they are wired to have a relationship with those who care for them.
Likewise, as humans one of our primary needs is relationship. It is an innate hunger within each of us, and we struggle to feel complete without it.
This is no surprise because it is the way God has made us. We were created to live in relationship.
To understand this more fully we need to understand more about God. God exists in relationship. Sounds strange? Let me explain.
Our first introduction to God is the beginning of the bible where it tells us that, ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth’. When God got to the sixth day of Creation, he said, ‘Let us make man in our image’.
Notice that God is referring to others involved in his creation. God, the father, had the son and the spirit working together in creation. They are in relationship, and they work together in unity.
At the start of John’s gospel, we read, ‘the word (Jesus) was with God and the word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made’. Confirming again that God works in relationship as the trinity.
Therefore, it makes sense that when God made man and woman ‘in his image’, he made them to function in relationship. We are to work together in unity, going through life in community.
The challenge to us all is we often don’t dwell together in unity. We have become fractious, selfish, and often uncaring toward others. Our world has also become increasingly self-reliant, and people are lonelier than ever before.
Is this God’s intention? Is this how he created us? No and no.
We we’re made for much more than this. But how do we in this screen-dominated, crazy world, turn this around?
Can I encourage us to be ‘recreated’ in the image of God, fulfilling our original purpose. Somehow, we need a dose of God’s relational capacity.
Not only does God relate as trinity, but he can relate to us, and we back to him. By believing and receiving Jesus, he places his spirit within us. Effectively, we now have God’s unique relatability within us.
What is the outcome? God can relate to us; we can relate back to God, and we also can conduct our earthly relationships in a way that honours God.
Too good to be true? Why not give it a go?
Pastor David Lloyd
Community Church, Kyabram
