Distant Relationships

Posted on March 3, 2018 by .....

DISTANT RELATIONSHIPS

I Corinthians 13:4-7 “Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

True love, right love, godly love longs for a proper relationship, it longs for restoration if the relationship is broken, it longs for a consistent relationship, it longs for close relationships. Do we have this kind of love in the relationships in our life?

You know the saying that distance makes the heart grow fonder? Well by current personal experience I would have to agree with that. But that is on a temporal earthly level, it is through the perspective of man. When separated from family for long periods of time or by great distance or both, usually people begin to miss their family, they begin to long for their family, they begin to want to talk to them, text with them, see them face to face. It is a natural thing for man to want and desire that which he cannot currently have and is unable to have due to certain circumstances he may be in. I, as of this writing, have not had any personal contact, except by phone, text or FaceTime with my family for a couple weeks now. I can tell you I miss them sorely. I want that relationship restored to its fullest as quickly as possible. I cannot wait to see them, I cannot wait to fellowship with them, I cannot wait to embrace them.

But how many of us feel the same way as I have described in the above paragraph concerning our relationship with the Lord? Do we long to see Him face to face, do we long to embrace Him and put our arms around Him? Do we long for restoration of a broken fellowship with Him we may have, do we long to talk with Him and tell Him about our day and our concerns? Do we desire to be united with Him? Are we willing to do anything and go to any lengths to have our relationship with the Lord be as great as it can be? – I would reply to these questions by sadly saying I think many of us do not have this same kind of longing and desire for a relationship with our Savior as we do for our family. When our relationship is interrupted or a separation of distance or time has occurred we long for our family; do we long for the Lord in the same way? Do you love the Lord less than your family, as much as your family or more than your family? Jesus asked a similar question to Peter “lovest thou me more than these?” Do we… do we truly love the Lord like we should? Do we truly long for the kind of relationship with the Lord like we should?

Does our Savior, who possesses perfect love for us, feel the same way toward us when we have grown distant from Him as we do when our relationship with our family is distant? Does He long to see us restored in fellowship with Him again? Does He want that face time with us to be restored? Does He long to hear our prayers directed at Him? Does He mourn when fellowship with us is broken? – I would say yes to all of these questions. So now start thinking of your relationship with God with an eternal perspective. Just as I am longing to see my family as soon as possible and I only have human imperfect love toward them; imagine how the Lord longs for a consistent and loving relationship with us as He possess perfect love toward us.

Are you making your Lord mournful as a result of your flippant, irreverent, inconsistent and lackadaisical attitude you take to your relationship with Him? That would be a terrible thing, a terrible sin to be guilty of. The Lord longs for a great relationship with us, much more than I, an imperfect vessel, longs for a face to face restored relationship with my family. This distance I now am experiencing from my family has given me a different perspective and understanding; and the Lord has used this separation of distance, in my family relationship, to teach me about how He must feel when we let our relationship grow distant with Him. How must God feel when we are so uncaringly distant in our relationship to Him. I pray that we all consider and examine ourselves to determine if our relationship with the Lord is how it should be and how the Lord told us it should be. (II Corinthians 13:5a – Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves…)

Why don’t you take some time to examine the status of your relationship with the Lord and determine if you are as close to Him as you should be? I would say all of us could have a better relationship with the Lord, all of us could draw closer to Him. Are you causing rejoicing in Heaven because of the status of your relationship with the Lord? Or are you causing a deep sadness, grief and disappointment in Heaven based on the status of your relationship with the Lord? Are you grieving the Lord with the current state of your relationship with Him, with how you act toward Him, with how you communicate or don’t communicate with Him? (Ephesians 4:30 – And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.)

Most importantly have you ever even established a relationship with the Lord? Have you ever accepted Him as your personal Savior? We all need to make sure of our salvation, then with the Lords help and the help of the Holy Spirit living within us after we are saved strive to keep that relationship with the Lord unbroken and constantly growing in love and dedication as we should strive to do the same with our family. (I John 5:13 – These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.)