Let's Keep the Record Straight
Dearly beloved of God, I often see posts about needing to develop a relationship with God.
Hold the wagon! The relationship begins with what God did in Christ to make a relationship available with Him in the first place.
The relationship is not based on our works, but on God’s great love and grace toward us in Christ Jesus.
God is the One that went to extraordinary lengths to have a relationship with us. He gave His only begotten Son for us.
What did ask of us? He asked us to believe that He raised Jesus from the dead.
He is the One that went to extraordinary lengths to have a relationship with us, not vice versa. We do not earn that relationship; it is ours by the grace of God.
Whose idea was it that if we confess the Lord Jesus with our mouth, and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved? It was God’s idea, not ours.
God did not ask you to be beaten so severely that you were no longer recognizable in order to have a relationship with Him.
God did not heal you by the strips laid on you; they were laid on Christ.
God did not ask you to be crucified; to be spiked to a tree and die in order to have a relationship with Him.
God did not ask you to be circumcised as Israelites were asked, or to keep the law as they were in order to have a relationship with Him.
All that God asks of us is to believe regarding His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, and that He raised him from the dead.
God provided His Son as the Savior by divine conception, and He determined that he would be sacrificed in our stead.
God raised Jesus from the dead, and He determined that all who believe regarding him would receive everything that he accomplished for their redemption and salvation.
God is the One that called us by the gospel; by the joyous proclamation concerning His Son and what he accomplished for us. He sends His messengers with the gospel concerning Christ.
God is the One that determined ahead of time that we were freely justified through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. It is by God’s grace, not by our works.
It was God’s idea to forgive all our sins. We do not have to pay for them. We have been forgiven, and God chooses to remember our sins no more.
It was God’s idea that through Christ we have access to Him as our Father by the new birth spirit.
God determined beforehand that in the new birth we would receive the totality of the new spirit nature with all the ability, the rights, and the privileges associated with that birth as children of God.
God is the One that determined beforehand that we would be conformed to the image of His Son, and that we will be glorified with Christ.
All of these things were God’s ideas, and He is One that purposed, and planned all that is ours in Christ. He is the One that by the good pleasure of His will blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm.
Apparently, God has put much more into this relationship than we ever could. The relationship with Him is by His great grace toward us in Christ, not by anything we have done.
After all that He has done for us, what does He require of us? He asks us to believe Him, and to love Him.
So, when you hear people talk of all that WE must do to have a relationship with God, let’s keep the record straight.
God is the One that wanted the relationship with us in the first place, and He has gone to extraordinary lengths so that we could have the relationship with Him as a child of God.
When you awake each new morning say, “Father, I love you. Thank you for all you have done for me in Christ. Is there anything you would have me do for You today?”
What a privilege it is to be able to walk with God our Father. He has shown us such great grace!
To consistently believe is called faithfulness, and it is impossible to please God without believing that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Much of what God asks us to believe concerns what Jesus Christ accomplished and who we are in Christ. You would not know it from the way you hear Christians talk about it.
Believing God is the opposite of arguing with Him. We live by believing, not by sight.
Walk out on His Word. God enabled you. You are completely outfitted for every good work so believe Him.
God asks us to walk in love; so be an imitator of God and walk in love as Jesus Christ did. Love one another. Jesus Christ said that they will know you by your love. Listen to your Father and live love.
God is our Father, and He is with us and for us. He loves us as He loved His only begotten Son. He cares for us. He will never leave us, nor forsake us; He is our Helper.
We are complete in Christ Jesus; completely filled. What do we have that we did not receive? Nothing!
Our part in the relationship is so small compared to all that God our Father has done for us in Christ. Let’s keep the record straight, beloved of God.