How To Have A Relationship With A Perfect God
There seems to be a false impression out there that people who go to church, or who have Christ, have it all together or at least try to look like they do. I am here to tell you, it is the exact opposite. I am broken in every way and I am in need of a Savior more than I can express in words. I need and have the awesome opportunity to go to church and to have a church family to love and hold me accountable. I go to church, not because I have it together, but everyone there helps me keep it together. My brokenness is beyond fixing of anything I can do on my own. That’s where Jesus steps in. What is it that allows us to have a relationship with a sovereign, perfect God when we, ourselves, are not? What is it about us that He so badly desires our love and relationship enough to the point that he gave himself on that cross?
God is so holy and just no sin can get into heaven. That’s why it is perfect. Therefore, just like in a court or a justice system, there needs to be consequences for wrongdoings. People argue, “how can a loving God punish sin?” I say the opposite. How could we call God loving if he does not punish sin? We would argue what type of God can let injustice in this world happen, and have there not be consequences? The problem begins when we realize each and every one of us has been behind the evil and injustice in the world. Justice is the foundation of God’s throne as seen throughout the Psalms, as well as all throughout scripture. Could you imagine a ref or an ump who does not abide by the rules of the game or a judge who doesn’t uphold the law? Our sin has to have a consequence. This justice is exactly why God sent His Son to die for us. This is why He had to suffer.
God has to uphold his justice but He so badly desires to show us mercy. Psalm 51:5 says, “surely I was sinful at birth and sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” Psalm 130:3-4 continues to say “if you Lord, kept record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.” God has seen every single wrong we have ever done, but he loves us anyways. 1 John 1:5-10 says “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you, God is light. In Him, there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him, and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and we do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, in the blood of Jesus, his son purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us.”
Every single one of us has done wrong. The issue begins when we realize the definition of what we think is wrong is skewed, since Adam, Eve and ultimately we have eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It gave us our own opinion, when we turn from God’s truth. When we are the judge, we judge ourselves and others inaccurately. If we think “you know, I haven’t done anything wrong.” What if I told you that there’s actually a verse that claims anything that we do not do from faith is sin? Romans 14:23 says “But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat because they’re eating is not from faith, and everything that does not come from faith is sin.” The same goes if we do anything without consulting or seeking the Lord first. 2 Chronicles 12:14 says “he did evil because he had not said his heart on seeking the Lord.”
Not sure about you guys, but the fact that if we do anything without faith is a sin, makes me realize I am even more far gone than what I already knew. I would think I have no hope, but the good news is there is hope! I am not telling you all this to make you feel bad, but I just want us to see the reality of our condition because it makes us realize that much more how loved we are because according to Romans 5:20 where sin increases, grace increases all the more! Romans 6:23 says “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life and Christ Jesus our Lord.” The only thing is the consequence of our sin is death, ultimately eternal separation from God. When we sin, that ultimately is what we are choosing: to be separated from God’s way. Sin, even though it separates us, He loves us so much He could not stand to be separated from us. He needed to break that separation, creating the ultimate love story.
Romans 3:22-25 says “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood- to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished.” The only way we will be judged or condemned is if we do not confess that we indeed do sin and are in need of a Savior. John 3:14-16 says “just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” Many stop here, but I want us to keep reading the rest, which is referencing John 3:17-21, it gets even better! “For God to not send His Son to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds are evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be plainly seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”
The God who created everything loves you, and wants to live with you for eternity in heaven. Let’s summarize. What is the way to heaven? Jesus! Jesus plus nothing. Not Jesus plus good works. Christ alone. Galatians 2:16 says “know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by the works of the law, no one will be justified.” This completely takes away the burden. It takes it off of us when we fail, and when we sin, but what He did ignites in us a response of love and wanting to obey. Not wanting to do wrong out of fear of getting caught will never be enough to change your heart and motivate you to do good.
God so loved us He sent Jesus to die for us to give us everlasting life. Jesus didn’t come to condemn us, but to condemn Satan. He wanted to save us. We were already condemned before Christ came to forgive us of our sin. It is so tempting to want to hide our brokenness when we are exposed by the light because we are so scared of rejection. The beauty is, once you admit this brokenness, God accepts you regardless and actually helps to repair this brokenness. However, if you deny the brokenness, you are denying the truth. You are only hurting yourself.
Before Jesus was resurrected after His crucifixion, the Old Testament talks about how God mandated a transactional form of forgiveness, where there was a specific different sacrifice for each type of sin. The question that often comes up is “what about before Jesus?” How did forgiveness work before He came? Jesus was the sacrifice to take away the transactional form of “religion,” and introduced the relational form of forgiveness. It is cool to see that even in the Old Testament, Jesus and God have still always been after our hearts while fulfilling His justice since He is a good and loving God. Micah 6:7-8 says God is not pleased with the sacrifice of Rams and firstborns for sins. He requires we act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with him. Psalm 51:16-17 says He does not delight in sacrifice or burnt offerings, but the sacrifice of a broken spirit and contrite heart. Psalm 69:30-33 says praising God in song and with Thanksgiving will please have more than ox, the Lord hears the needy.
Hebrews 9:9-15 continues to say sacrifices were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. They were regulations applied until the time of Jesus. When Christ came as high priest, he went through the perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands. He did not enter by means of animal sacrifice, but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood for eternal redemption. The Blood and Ashes of animals only made us outwardly clean. The blood of Christ, who through the Spirit offered himself unblemished to God cleanses our consciences from sin leading to death, so that we may serve the living God. Christ is the mediator that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from sin.
Even though works do not lead to salvation, they do matter. We do not do more by trying harder, but by falling more in love with Christ to ignite that spark in us. Why don’t we just run to this amazing father who clearly loves us more than we can fathom? Ever since the beginning, in the Old Testament, people have been contesting against God for idols. 1 Kings 18:24-39 talks about how the prophets of this so called god “Baal” and the true God that the prophet Elijah was contesting for. Both called on the names of their god to see who will answer by fire. The prophets of Baal danced around but they got no answer. Elijah prayed, “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are guiding Israel and that I am your servant, and I’ve done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me so that these people know that you Lord our God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones in the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The LORD- He is God! The LORD-He is God!”
God continues to prove himself over and over again. If you are ever having doubts, God never gave up on Israel, even when they were in exile. He sent the Prophets Ezra, Nehemiah and Zerubbabel to pursue his people and turn them back from destroying their lives. What is even more fascinating is how God takes people who do not consult with him, but changes their hearts to help his people. Ezra 1:1-3 says “In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put in writing: “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: “The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem, and may their God be with them”. King Cyrus was a pagan king, meaning he was a king who did not follow God. Yet, God moved His heart showing us no matter who you are, God is constantly chasing after your heart and continues to prove himself sovereign. I hope you know the fact you are reading this is His way of chasing after your heart.
How can we be absolutely sure this God exists? How can we be sure this God is real? You may be thinking this God and His love sounds amazing, but how can I believe this? As Christians, we have the same evidence as atheist in the sense we all see the same exact world, but we interpret differently how everything came to be. For example, why can’t all the fossils we find be from be from the flood of Noah’s time? Why are sea remains on top of mountains and in the deserts? What about evolution from an animal perspective and how people have studied and observed animals can change over time; Why can’t this be a God who created animals who are able to adapt? Whether you believe in evolution from an ape to human perspective, or believe a loving God created us, neither have been physically witnessed. I would argue both take just as much “faith” in the sense of believing without seeing.
If we are speaking to others who do not feel the same of how we came to be, we can show God’s love in a very gentle way, while at the same time, always having confidence in this ultimate truth. It is obvious that there is a mastermind behind our creation, who also loves, has a purpose and has a will. I am an upper extremity/hand therapist and occupational therapist, so hear me out when I say I love science! But, I also love the why behind the science from who created our amazing bodies. Your DNA is too specifically designed to be an accident.
Some may say “I believe in a higher being, but I believe all beliefs and all religions are right.” Unfortunately, this way of thinking cannot be true because other religions actually contradict the Bible. There has to be absolute truths. Two plus two is four. It cannot be both four and seven. Most religions are trying to help us find a God, but Jesus said He is God! He came and He is here to save you, us. He is alive today at the right hand of God. Regardless how old you are reading this, it is never too late and I would even go as far as to argue not only is it not too late, but this timing, His timing, is perfect. Ezekiel 12:25 says “But I the Lord will speak what I will, and it shall be fulfilled without delay.”
God has kept all His promises in His perfect timing. The Lord has done what He has planned. He has fulfilled his word which has been decreed long ago, according to Jeremiah 50:17. Not only does he fulfill these promises in his perfect timing, but he will carry out His plans, which are always good. In John 21:24-25, John says if he would have wrote down everything Jesus did, the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written. God has done more for us than we realize, and continues to work when we do not even feel or see it. Trust in Him today for your salvation, and start receiving life to the full!
