A Love Relationship With Who Now?

God loves you.

That is a pretty simple statement, right? Just three words. It is a statement that every child in Sunday School has heard a million times. But this simple statement, “God loves you,” can change a person’s entire life, and when coupled with the statement, “I love God,” it becomes extraordinary.

Before I understood these two simple statements, being a Christian was no easy task. I constantly felt guilty for not being better, for not praying enough, for not reading my Bible every day. Going to my church was only enjoyable part of the time, though I tried my best to pay attention to what my pastor said. I chose to ‘put away’ certain verses of the Bible I did not fully understand how to follow. I knew my Christian walk was not going the way it should, but instead of turning to God, I would be mad at myself and try to force myself to become better. It never worked the way I hoped it would. But then I learned something in my devotional that I had never learned before: God wants a love relationship with me.

At first glance, this alarmed me. I thought perhaps my devotional, Experiencing God, had some faulty information. It sounded romantic, which was never an emotion I had felt toward God-- or anyone else had, as far as I knew. I soon came to see, however, that my devotional did not have faulty information, nor was it implying that my relationship with God should be romantic. It is so much better than that.

God created us for a love relationship with Him. This simply means our relationship is built of love— not hatred or fear. Jesus Himself said that the greatest commandment is to, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’...” And if Christians are supposed to obey God, that means to love the Lord is the purpose of our lives no matter what our preconceived ideas are. Two experts on this subject, Henry Blackaby and Claude King have said, “A love relationship with God is more important than any other factor in your life.” They used one of the oldest examples in history to back this point. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve regularly walked with God. It was not just about learning about Him. If it was just about learning, they could have sat at desks like school children, but they did not. They spent time with God, talking with Him, growing to know Him. Yet when Eve ate the fruit, she chose her own desire over God. Maybe if she had trusted God, had loved Him with all her heart, soul, strength, and mind, had made her love for God the greatest factor in her life, humans would still live in the Garden. Even after Adam and Eve ate the fruit and hid from God, God walked through the Garden and asked, “Where are you?” He was looking for Adam and Eve. He wanted to spend time with them. He loved them, and loves us. Our goal as Christians is to love Him as well. Imagine knowing someone who created the house you lived in, provided you food, clothing, and blessings, protected you from evil, continually wrote you love letters, waited patiently for you to spend time with them, gave their own Son to die in order to save your life, and offered you a mansion in a city made of gold, and you did not love them. When we think about this idea in a different way, it makes perfect sense.

After I learned about these two simple statements, “God loves me,” and “I love God,” my entire life changed. When I once felt a necessity but not a desire to read the Bible, I now look forward to— feel almost giddy about-- spending time in God’s Word. I love praying at night. I hang on to my Pastor’s every word at church and think about the meaning of the songs we sing. I turn to God to help me fight my sin and help me turn my life toward Him. Being a Christian has now become an enjoyable experience. I must admit, I have cried more than once when spending time with God. And I have just recently learned about these concepts. It excites me to think about the new things I will learn about God and the things I will experience with Him.

Sadly, I had never looked into this idea before recently. Yes, there were times when I felt close to God, but never have I felt this happy when it came to my religion. Based on the statistics I’ve seen, most millennials do not have this type of relationship with God. Two 2015 studies said only 18% of millennials attend church, while among those who do, more than 40% said they were not born again, and 20% believed the Bible was not true and historically accurate. Another 2019 poll showed that 9 out of 10 young people in the UK believed their life had no purpose. Like Henry Blackaby and Claude King, I believe that if these people reoriented their life to put God in the center and grew to love Him, they would find purpose in their life, be born again, read God’s true Word, and find joy at God’s house.

It is time Christians learned their purpose, learned what their duty is. We are meant to love God. Let’s stop wasting time and throw ourselves headfirst into a love relationship with God.

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Word Count: 943

*This is for an op-ed competition*

Bible, Holy. “Genesis 2-3.” Bible Gateway, 2016, www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2B2-3&version=ESV.

Bible, Holy. “Mark 12:30 .” Bible Gateway, 2016, www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2B12%3A30&version=ESV.

Blackaby, Henry T., and Claude V. King. Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God, Youth Edition. LifeWay Press, 2005.

Ham, Ken. “Life Has No Meaning? 9 in 10 Young People in the UK Believe That.” Answers in Genesis, 12 Aug. 2019, answersingenesis.org/culture/life-has-no-meaning-young-people-believe/.

Ham, Ken. “Surprised, Shocked, and Saddened over Statistics on Twenty-Somethings.” Answers in Genesis, 12 Oct. 2015, answersingenesis.org/church/surprised-shocked-saddened-statistics/.

Ham, Ken. “The Statistics Are Alarming!” Answers in Genesis, 8 Jan. 2016, answersingenesis.org/blogs/ken-ham/2016/01/08/the-statistics-are-alarming/.

Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it!