Enjoying God is a foreign concept to many Christians.
Asked to describe their relationship with God, few would use the word "enjoy". A famous statement tells us that our purpose in life is to "glorify God and
enjoy Him forever". We have probably been taught many times about glorifying
God which is absolutely true but what about enjoying God. Be honest, do you
enjoy God? Is the word "enjoy" one that you would use regarding you and
God?
It is fascinating the way that Jesus taught us how to
pray in what we usually term the Lord's Prayer. By the way, I don't think His
intent was for us to simply recite this prayer. It is a guide, almost an
outline that we pray through the lens of grace. He begins the prayer with this opening, "Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be your name". It was only a few years ago that I realized the
significance of beginning our prayers to God in this way. Here is what I
mean.
"Our Father" speaks of the close relationship we can
experience with God when we understand the transformative gospel of grace. Many
Christians perceive that God is like some other significant person in their
lives such as a dad or mom. Those who experienced a close relationship with that
person do not have a lot of difficulty relating to God in a positive way as
their Father. Those who experienced a distant or painful relationship with that
person often relate to God as their Father in negative ways. The transformative
gospel of grace can change that incorrect concept of God so we can actually
enjoy God. We see it all of the time in our ministry.
"Hallowed be your name" speaks of the transcendence of
God. Don't be scared away by that word. It communicates to us that God is our
Creator. He is holy. He is awesome. He is eternal. He needs no one. He is God
and we are not! This leads us into a place of a proper fear of God, worshipping
Him for who He is. Don't get sidetracked here with the word "fear". It does not
mean that we are afraid of Him and His discipline for our sins. This fear is a
deep reverence and awe for God. As we recognize the truth of Who God is, it
sometimes puts us on our knees or on our faces and we say, "Wow!" There is
great enjoyment in worshiping Him as God.
We can enjoy God the most, when we relate to Him as our
loving close Father and our awesome Creator God. We can get out of balance if
we emphasize one over the other.
So do you enjoy God? If not, ask Him to correct your
erroneous view of Him as your Father and as your great God.
Until next time, remember, He loves
us!
Live Free In Christ,
Mark Maulding, President and Founder GraceLifeInternational.com
