LOVE TAKES TWO
Of course, we all know that basic rules are necessary to protect us. As parents, our children don't know why we have half the rules we do, but we know. We know what they have to learn before they turn eighteen and they're out there on their own. We know better than they do, and our rules have reasons. We want to save our kids from experiencing the natural consequences of their mistakes.
God's rules for us are for the same reason. Rules are important, but they aren't the point, nor are they at the top of the list in our relationship with God. Obeying God's rules will save us from learning things the hard way, but by themselves they won't give us a personal experience with the God of the universe. In fact, a list of rules without having an actual experience of God are a pretty stifling experience.
There is a misunderstanding out there that God is waiting with a thunderbolt, ready to "smite" us when we mess up. If that were true, we'd all be smoking cinders right now. I've done wrong things and I've had to face the consequences of them. As I understand it, God isn't up there waiting to smite. He's up there pleading with us to choose a different path, to avoid the awful consequences He knows are out there. That's the reason for His rules. But while obeying those rules will protect us, obedience to His rules isn't the only thing God wants from us. He wants a connection, real contact.
"He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God." John 1:10-12
It's easy to think about God's laws and say, "See? That's God. The law shows us God." It's true that His laws show us something about Him. But laws are no more a full definition of Him than my house rules are a definition of me. We have only a few house rules for the children at my house: " You have to obey what I say." "You have to be respectful." "You can't pound on the floors" (we live on the second floor of an apartment building). "You have to go to bed at bedtime." That's pretty much it. So if you know my house rules, does that mean that you know me personally? Not at all. The rules I set for my house tell you more about my child than they do about me. If he automatically obeyed when I told him to put something down or not touch it, I wouldn't have to have a "You must obey mommy" rule. If he didn't think it was fun to stomp around the house, I wouldn't have to have a rule forbidding it. If "please" and "thank you" came out of him naturally, our house rule of being respectful and polite wouldn't be necessary.
But following the rules isn't what bonds me to my little boy. We have a relationship completely apart from those rules. Our cuddles and snuggles, our talks and our play, are all a part of that very special relationship. When he follows the rules, we have a calm environment so that we can spend more quality time together. But my love for him is separate from the rules. Here's another question: How much would my son want to follow the rules I set if he didn't have this special relationship with me?
God isn't just a set of laws. Having a relationship with Him isn't the same thing as following a list of rules. Following the rules won't give you a personal relationship with God anymore than following traffic rules will make you a personal friend of the minister of transportation. When you get to know God personally, though, you'll see that He gave His rules out of love, out of a desire to protect you and me from the natural consequences of not following them.
STEPS TO BUILDING A
GODLY RELATIONSHIP
1: Prayer
Pray to him about everything, anytime without any hesitation. The more you pray to God the closer you'll become. There's nothing he can't answer.
2: Keep Faith
You have to fully trust God and wait on his directions. His timing is always right unlike ours and he wants you to understand that in order to truly help you.
3: Keep the Sabbath Holy
Praise God and give him all the glory by sharing what he has done for you more than you usually do at least.
RESOURCES
The following links are God given scriptures and other writings that will further provide you understanding about God's instructions to us.
For more information please contact us and don't forget to pray for His insight and don't rely on your personal feelings.
ADVENTIST BELIEFS
Seventh-day Adventist beliefs are meant to permeate your whole life. Growing out of scriptures that paint a compelling portrait of God, you are invited to explore, experience and know the One who desires to make us whole.
We accept the Bible as the only source of our beliefs. We consider our movement to be the result of the Protestant conviction Sola Scriptura; the Bible as the only standard of faith and practice for Christians.
We currently hold 28 fundamental beliefs that can be organized into six categories: the doctrines of God, man, salvation, the church, the Christian life and last day events. In each teaching, God is the architect, who in wisdom, grace and infinite love, is restoring a relationship with humanity that will last for eternity.
View Our
28 Fundamental Beliefs
