Christianity is all about Relationships

December 18, 2007
Relationship, the mere word sometimes strikes fear into our hearts because of past relationships that have failed or faltered. We sometimes have a negative view of this word because if we are engaged in a true relationship that means that we let our guard down and become truly vulnerable to someone else. However, a relationship is what our God calls us to. A deeply committed, passionate, loving relationship with Him. However, many people miss this aspect totally and trust in being a good person, or simply just coming to church, however God desires more. He desires our hearts to be totally devoted to Him. Our will to be surrendered to following whatever calling He gives us. However, many people miss this all together.
A few weeks ago I was having a conversation with some of our senior high students and this issue hit me like a MAC truck. When they were asked the question of why they were Christians their response was because they had always come to church, their parents told them to do it, or it seemed better than the alternative. This troubled me but I didn’t act on it until last week.
We are currently engaged in a series entitled, “Welcome to Temptation Island” where the students are confronted about some of the more serious temptations in their lives. Last week we dove into the issue of substance abuse and suicide, which stirred up a lot of emotions from various students. We finished the lesson early and to my surprise the students we still sitting there attentively waiting on more. After a brief prayer, the thought of Jeremy entered into my mind, and I realized that there was another opportunity in front of me. Another opportunity to be obedient to God’s calling and open up the floodgates into the lives of our students. I very simply expressed the reality of being a Christian is not being a good person or even just coming to church, although those things should flow out of a Christian’s life, but rather devoting your life to Christ and engaging in a relationship with a God who cares about us so much. I offered the students three choices, to make a first time commitment to Christ, to experience the relationship side and not just the superficial stuff of Christianity, or to be placed in a situation to share their faith. After opening up this invitation, I realized that we had five new students who admitted later they had never heard the Gospel, and a number of students who shared that they had never understood that God wanted a relationship with them, who wanted that to change. After praying briefly, God showed up, again, which shouldn’t come as a surprise but usually does, and almost every hand in the room went up, which was a huge answer to prayer considering that the room was packed, so much so that one of the students commented earlier in the evening, “There are so many people here, do you think maybe some of them are lost?” I do genuinely believe that some of those people may have been lost, either spiritually or literally, but what they heard and agreed to was something that will forever change their lives. It always amazes me the ways that God shows up to bless His work and the many changed lives that flow so freely from it.