Good morning…
“Through you I am getting the message to come to God often,” wrote one subscriber. I smile as I sense God chuckle, “I have come to you. I am already here!”
It reminds me of a quote I read aloud in our Bible study this week. “The difference between the mechanical and relational approach (to prayer) could be pictured like this: Let’s say you’d been taught how to get written directions from God to go any place you wanted to go. You could get in your car and hold these instructions in your hand, printed clearly in black and white. That’s what many people want from God: “Just tell me what to do!”
But Jesus will not have it! Jesus is relentlessly relational. He gets in the car with you, takes the instructions out of your hands, and grins as he tears them up. “Start the car!” he says.
You feel uneasy; you just want the instructions! You protest: “How will I know when to turn?”
He smiles and challenges you to risk trusting him: “I’ll tell you when to turn. Start the car!”
You protest again: “I need to know ahead of time.”
But Jesus replies, “Trust me. We’re going to stop at restaurants you’re going to love; we’re going to see beautiful places; we’re going to stop alongside the road and help people you can’t stand. It will be wonderful. Start the car.”
If you’re wise, you will start the car’s engine and love this moment-to-moment life with God. God created us not to make us map-reading, rote followers, but to be communicating, cooperating ‘friends’ (John 15:15).”
Black and white instructions from God might scratch our itch for certainty, “Just tell me what to do!” Yet a moment-to-moment life with God offers a joy filled adventure. “I’ve told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature…I’m no longer calling you servants because servants don’t understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I’ve named you friends because I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from the Father” (John 15:11, 15, MSG).
Will you respond to God’s relentlessly relational invitation? “Start the car.”
…Sue…
