Connect with God
God Wants to Be Connected to You
Humankind is created by God in His image; that is, we are spiritual beings capable of making moral and rational choices. It means that our lives have value and purpose. It also means that we are capable of a relationship with God that is real and meaningful. This stands in contrast to the view that says that everything real is material, that there is no God nor meaning to life.
How We Became Disconnected From God
He has revealed Himself to us through creation and through the Bible. We have his commandments to show us His perfect righteous standard. In spite of all this, we have continued to think, speak, and act in the ways we wanted instead of in the ways God wanted. Thus, the Bible exposes us as sinners. Sin has had an effect on us as persons, hindering our relationships with others and with God. We are still able to know right from wrong, but not always. We have a conscience, but it produces feelings of guilt. We are unable to discipline ourselves to do many of the things we know to be right. Our "want to" is broken - we have trouble even wanting to be what we know we ought to be. It is because of sin we are estranged from God.
How God Works in Our Lives to Help Us Reconnect with Him
God in His love, has sought us out. God's holiness and our sinfulness present a dilemma: God's perfect standard requires that we make a 100 on God's test; a 99 will not do. The perfection of God requires perfection from us. James 2:10 tells us, "For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it" (Revised Standard Version). Some of us have done worse than others, but "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Therefore, we cannot know God or enter heaven through our own goodness.
Not only is God holy, He is also a God of justice. He can not simply overlook our sins and pretend they didn't happen. He must punish sin. What now? We are in a situation from which we can not deliver ourselves. How did God resolve this dilemma? He Himself came to our rescue. God loves people and desires for people to have a clear relationship with Him. When their time on earth is completed, He wants people to be with Him in Heaven. Jesus Christ, God the Son, came to earth personally and was born a real human being. He died on the cross as our substitute. So, God Himself paid the penalty that we could not pay. Like a judge finding his own daughter guilty and then paying her traffic ticket himself, Jesus personally accepted our punishment and "bore our sins in His own body on the tree" (1st Peter 2:24). The gap between God and man has been bridged. What sin did to separate, the cross worked to bring together.
You May Be Sensing God at Work to Get You Reconnected Right Now
God calls us to Himself. "He called you through our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2nd Thessalonians 2:14). In this call we sense ourselves being attracted to Him. We sense an inward pull toward "Him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light" (1st Peter 2:9). We feel the need to be forgiven and a strong desire to know God in a real and personal way.
You Can Reconnect with God...
God has already taken steps to connect with you. It is as if He has built a bridge to you across a wide canyon. There you stand at the foot of the bridge, with the bridge all ready for you to cross to God on the other side. We cannot settle for knowing the bridge is there... or admiring the bridge for being so well-constructed. We must take steps to cross over. The Bible uses two terms - like two sides of the same coin - to describe the steps we take to cross this bridge to God: repentance and faith.
Repentance - Repentance is an attitude adjustment which changes the direction of our lives. It is turning to God from self -- that is, from our self-centeredness and sin. "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out and that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19).
Faith - Faith is trusting Jesus Christ to do for you things you cannot do for yourself. You cannot get your own sins forgiven, you cannot get yourself to heaven, you cannot make yourself right with God. But because of the cross, Jesus can. Faith is trusting Him to do it for us. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8). Faith is more than just believing things about God; it is trusting Christ. We must trust Jesus apart from anything we ourselves might do.
We are talking about more than a new lifestyle or signing on to a new list of beliefs. This is not about self-improvement (in fact, self is the problem). It is about God giving new us life. The new life is a free gift. The Bible tells us that "The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23). We do not deserve it. We cannot achieve it. We can only receive it.
Perhaps, you are standing today at one end of the bridge. You can hear deep in your heart God calling you to cross over. Why don't you cross over right now?
