The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe
"Relationship"
"And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent" (John 17:3).
"Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord" (II Peter 1:3).
"But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name" (John 20:31).
Faith in the relationship between God the Father and God the Son, as revealed by God the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, is clearly foundational to our life and existence. Thereby, we receive "life eternal… grace and peace… and life through His name."
Why is this so? The primary answer involves relationship itself, namely, God has forever existed as a loving, communicating, and fellowshipping being in and of Himself. Before any other conscious hearts and minds came into existence, He dwelt as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God dwelling in three distinct persons and personalities so devoted to one another that the Apostle John could simply state, "God is love" (I John 4:8; 16). This "is" of our Lord's being and nature has always been, and will always be. "From everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God… I am the Lord, I change not" (Psalm 90:2; Malachi 3:6). Thus, relationship is central in our Lord, and can only be properly known and understood through the revelation of Himself to other beings possessed of the capability for love, communication and fellowship. "In Thy light shall we see light" (Psalm 36:9).
When we seek to relate rightly to God and people, we actually participate in a reality far more glorious and elemental to our being than we can imagine…
"And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was… I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them" (J0hn 17:5; 26).
Our Lord made the human race "in His own image" (Genesis 1;27). Nothing more reflects God in humanity than our capacity for communication. Nor does anything we do more require His presence, leading, and enabling if we are genuinely love Him and others. Little wonder that relationship with Him begins by knowing that Jesus is the Son of God, and that fellowship with our Heavenly Father ever proceeds through His Son. "For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father" (Ephesians 2:18). Yes, relationship has always been - in God - and now dwells as a capability in humanity that can only be known and properly experienced as, through the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures, we look to the Father and the Son.
"Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word, that they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me. And the glory which Thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me."
(John 17:20-23)
"All things are delivered to me of My Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal Him."
(Luke 10:22)
Weekly Memory Verse
"The grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus."
(I Timothy 1:14)
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