Trust me, I'm not a Biblical scholar. I just love pondering the Love Letter that our heavenly Creator gave us for our complete benefit. In a June blog I asked the question, "Could you summarize the Bible in 5 words?" This was probably an impossible task, but my mind has been drawn to this thought like metal to a magnet.
The words I discovered were: relationship, ruined, redemption, repentance, restoration and relationship. God created us for relationship. Adam and Eve ruined this so God sent Jesus to redeem us. We need to be repentant to receive restoration. When we are restored, we are brought back into relationship with God.
I know this is a huge simplification, but I have been meditating on the word "relationship" and "connection." Without it we die. I remember one study done many years ago that talked about the importance of touch. This is how we communicate our connection, and is the beginning of any relationship. Years ago in one overcrowded orphanage, they studied the effects of touch deprivation in babies . They were fed, but left alone in the cribs. These children suffered from severe delays and infections. (Albers, Lisa H. Johnson, Dana E., and Hostetter, Margaret K. "Health of Children Adopted from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe: Comparison with Preadoptive Medical Records." Journal of the Medical Association 278.11 (1997): 922:924) I found this so shocking, yet it is so simple.
We have a basic human need for connection, relationship. God designed our minds, hearts and bodies with this lack that can only be fulfilled with another. He also created us to be in relationship with Him! He is our heavenly Parent and without His touch, we die. I can attest to this fact. I rejected God in my twenties. I "found" God at age thirty.
I was more than lost before I was found. I was spiritually dead and revived back to life. Each day since then I have become more and more alive, more in love. Love is the basis for relationship and connection. Wow! Such a simple concept, yet it seems impossible for many to grasp. Invite Him into your heart. You'll receive the gifts of restoration and relationship!
"We love God because He first loved us." (1 John 3:19)