In everything that we do, we must remember that God is our Father. We must remember this at every breath, and at every moment. Yes, we have a biological father, and this is an important relationship. Some of us had really good dads, and others of us had biological fathers that didn’t support us at all. We shouldn’t waste time feeling some type of way about this. Resentment will not do us any good. The truly amazing thing that we ought to focus on is that God is the Creator of the universe and the Source of all things; and He loves us. He’s ours and we’re His. He is a better Father than any of us could have ever hoped to have.
God has given us relationships in the earth to teach us how to respond to one another. This prepares our hearts and minds to respond to Him. Knowing the love of a devoted mother is a precious gift. We know that our moms will do just about anything for us. This gives us a deep understanding of unconditional love. So, when we read in Romans 5:8 (NLT), “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners…” we can digest this awesome scripture because the maternal relationship has given us a context from which to understand the depth of love.
We have a tendency to lean on experiences that come only from living in this flesh and blood body, and we do so without being conscious of our true identity in Christ. This is a costly mistake, because the person that we were created to be is contained within the person of Jesus Christ. He walked by the Spirit, and God commands us to do the same. We are spirit beings having an earthly experience; not the other way around. We cannot be defined by our bodies. The REAL you is wrapped in the spiritual reality of Christ! You have his spirit inside you, through the person of the Holy Spirit.
The Bible tells us in 1John 1:5 (KJV), “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” God is pure love. He is so extraordinarily wonderful that our minds cannot comprehend the fullness of His being. But the kicker is that God created us in His own image.
It is very easy for us to relate to our biological mothers and fathers. We talk about how bomb they are, especially our mothers. And when it comes to those of us who have been blessed to have a biological father that had our backs, they’re good dudes and we aspire to be like them. We must remember that our parental relationships are meant to point to our spiritual relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Just as we might want to copy the example of our biological fathers, we should be even more committed to copy the example of our spiritual Father, our Creator, Yahweh, El Shaddai.
God has blessed us with various types of relationships. For instance, we might not approach our parents the way we would approach our best friends. These relationships are different, and call for a certain level of respect. Another example is romantic relationships. We would not deal with our girlfriends the same way we handle our relationships with other friends and family. So, different relationships pull different things out of us. They show and teach us that we can love in many different ways. We also learn about ourselves as we interact with the people that mean the most to us.
We make accommodations and changes to show others that we care about them and value their presence in our lives. So, it is quite necessary for us to realize that we cannot do less when it comes to our relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We must do more. Our relationship with God calls on us to relate to Him on a certain level. This level is on a much higher plain than what our other relationships may require. John 4:24 (KJV) tells us, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” Our spiritual self is our highest self. Our spirits were recreated through Jesus Christ when we became born again.
Your spirit man is perfect; and because it is perfect in its recreation, you are able to relate to God on a level that is respectful of His majesty, holiness, and glory. Thank the Lord Jesus Christ, because he made this available for us!
God has called us to holiness, so we must relate to Him on a ‘holy’ level. In order to obtain this level of holiness, we must know what holiness is. The Bible gives us a perfect example of what it is; holiness is acting like Christ. The word ‘holy’ means to be set apart. We have been handpicked by God to be His very own people. So, we are a set-apart people, and God commands us to put on the mind of Christ, and allow His Word to saturate our hearts.
We honor God and show Him respect when we demonstrate the lifestyle of Christ. A lot of people are big on respect, and disrespect is not to be tolerated. They don’t think about the fact that respect is earned, and that it isn’t rooted in fear and intimidation. Some folks want mad respect but haven’t done anything honorable to earn it. But God has earned it big time!
Remembering that we are God’s spiritual children, created in His image, will help us to nurture our relationship with Him. The dope thing about this is that when our relationship with God is as tight as it should be, all other aspects of our lives will be blessed. All of our other relationships will prosper when we honor God through the Lord Jesus Christ, and put Him in the number one spot.■
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
“The Number One Spot” written by JMack. 4theChristianMan.Com© 2017. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.