Dinner with the Trinity
I don’t know how things work at your house, but at the end of the day when most families sit down to have dinner one of the main topics of conversation is your children. We ask,’ How was your day? What happened at school? What was the best part of your day?’ As parents, we love our kids and we want to know what’s going on in their lives. And we want to hear it directly from them.
I believe it’s the same with God. I can picture Father, Son and Holy Spirit sitting down for dinner. And the kids (you and me) are one of the main topics of conversation. We know that Father thinks about us a lot. David wrote, “How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!” (Psalm 139:17-18). So why does God think about us so much? Because he loves his kids, too. We’re a top priority on his heart and he treasures his relationship with us.
Relationship is important to God; it’s why we were created. Think about this: worship was not mentioned in the Garden of Eden – it was about relationship. It’s always been about relationship. When you really know God, worship will happen.
Family Time in the Garden
Genesis 3 tells us that Adam and Eve heard the sound of God as he was walking in the garden. It seems clear that they spent a lot of time hanging out together. You and I were created to have an intimate relationship with God just like it was in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve lived in an environment permeated with the presence of God. There were no church buildings, hymnals, candles or robes. (No robes for sure.) We’ve added all that that religious stuff, but it’s never brought anyone closer to God.
When you break it down, it’s all about family. Our Father really wants to be with his kids. And, after ‘The Fall’, God went to great lengths to get the family back together. He initiated the relationship by creating us and then through Jesus he restored that relationship. Jesus said that he came to seek and save what was lost. (Luke 19:10)
Here’s some really good news from John 3:1, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” I love it that God lavishes his love on us. Can you feel the intensity of the kind of love? Our Father is passionate about us.
Adoption was the Option
God chose to restore our place in his family, but he didn’t have to. He could have said, ‘Okay, I’ll forgive you, but don’t expect me to bring you back into the family.’ So why did he choose to adopt us? Our Father did not want his home to be a broken home. He wanted us back in his family. (Check out Romans 8 and Galatians 4.) Remember, our salvation is not mainly about being forgiven of our sins, but mainly about restoring our relationship. Through Jesus and his finished work on the cross, God mad it clear that he wanted to ‘reconcile all things’ to himself. He accomplished this intervention in the dysfunctional human family. And he did it without appearing on the Dr Phil show!
Jesus was excited about the adoption as well. Hebrews 12 says that Jesus endured the cross because of the joy that awaited Him on the other side – a family reunion! He also said that he’s not ashamed to call us his brothers and sisters.
Servants or Friends
Often I hear people talk about how they ‘serve’ God. Now I don’t mean any disrespect to these folks, but I’m not sure they get the whole family thing. I don’t believe God is looking for servants. I think he wants friends. He’s interested in relationships. Paul said in his Mars Hill sermon in Acts 17, “Human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs.” How can you serve someone who has no needs? Good luck with that!
The people who do marketing for cellular phone companies are smart. They really get it. Think of how they brand their products. Cellular calling plans are called ‘Friends & Family’ for a reason. Who do we want to talk to? Not acquaintances and distant relatives. We want to talk to our friends and family. It’s same with God. He wants to spend time with us because we are his kids. In his family there are no distant relatives. The Bible says he has brought us near. In John 15 Jesus told his disciples that he would no longer call then servants because they had now become his intimate friends.
Happy Together
A child should never have to worry about earning love from his parents. In a healthy family, the children are loved, period. Our Father loves us perfectly because his very nature is love. For years I didn’t really understand how much I was loved. When I learned the truth, I felt so free. We don’t have to perform to be loved. The Father just loves us with a crazy kind of love. We don’t work for love – we live from love.
I think it’s so cool that we make God happy. Paul wrote in Ephesians 1 that, “God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.” The prophet Zephaniah says that, “God will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.” Here’s an excerpt of a song by the Turtles that expresses the way our Father sings over us:
“Imagine me and you, I do
I think about you day and night, it’s only right
To think about the [one] you love and hold them tight
So happy together
I can’t see me lovin’ nobody but you
For all my life
When you’re with me, baby the skies will be blue
For all my life”
Can you feel the love?
What is your Daddy singing over you?
Copyright 2014 John H Briggs
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