(PART 1) (Beyond Relationship — Theo-com-bi-on) Continuing on from my growing awareness and profound understanding of who God is, I have found myself asking more questions: What does it actually mean to have a relationship with Almighty God in Christ? What does it look like? How does it work? The question didn't come because my faith was failing. Quite the opposite. Through my prayers, studies, meditation, writing, and worship, I have become increasingly conscious of being known by the God who created me. And the more aware I have become of Him, the more the word relationship has begun to feel strangely thin, light, and, quite frankly, inadequate. This might surprise some of you. The word “relationship” does not appear in the New Testament to describe the connection between God’s people and God in the way we commonly use it today. When we use the word relationship, we naturally understand it through our horizontal human experience. We have relationships with our husbands and wives, our children, our friends, our brothers and sisters, our neighbours, and our colleagues. We see one another, speak to one another, touch one another, share experiences, and become somewhat familiar with one another. So when we say, “Oh, I'm not religious; I have a personal, living relationship with Jesus,” what do we actually mean? Because we absolutely do have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. But that personal relationship does not mean ownership. Yes, I am personally united to Christ, but Christ is not mine to possess. He is not “my own personal Jesus” in the sense that He belongs exclusively to me alone. He is the Christ—the Son of the living God, the I AM—and I belong to Him as part of His people. My life with Christ is deeply personal, yes, but it is not merely individual. It is truly personal, yet it is also truly corporate. Is our relationship romantic? Is it kept at a distant, diplomatic love? Or is it brotherly love? Or is it a sweet, marital love? Or is it a holy, reverent covenant love? The Bible does say: He is my friend? My brother? My Lord? My teacher? My companion? All of these titles can tell us something. Scripture itself uses some of them. Jesus Himself teaches us to call God our Father. He calls us His friends. We are described as brothers and sisters in Christ. He is our Lord, our Saviour, and our King. But there is something very important to see here. These titles can easily be understood through our horizontal human experience. We might know what a father relationship is. We can know what a brother relationship is. We can know what a close friendship is. We know what a lord or master means in human terms. But Scripture takes these horizontal titles—beyond our vertical limit. Jesus doesn't simply give us a new father. He brings us into relationship with His Holy Father, and that is just amazing. For the Holy Father is not like an earthly father we have seen or know. We cannot now just simply transfer our relationship emotions and experiences into the heavenly one we now have with Christ and the Holy Father. Why not? Because: God is God, Holy Father. The Son is not simply a brother in an ordinary human sense, no. He is the Holy, eternal Son of God—the One who is truly God and truly man. And He is not just our good friend either. No. He is our Adonai, Lord and King of kings, and Lord of lords, the Great I AM. The Holy Spirit is not just some kind of spiritual presence within us, like some kind of spiritual guide or master. No. He is the Holy Spirit—the third Person of the divine, Holy Trinity. Every one of these titles carries Kavod—the weight of His glory. The amazing grace is that we can truly call Him Father at all. To truly know Christ, to truly abide in Him, and to truly have fellowship with God—is totally awesome. He is not our God All-matey. No, never. He is God Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. This is where our horizontal word meaning relationship is too thin and too light. Because it can make the whole relationship far too familiar and far too ordinary. When, in reality, what we are talking about is anything but ordinary—but extraordinary.
