Tag: relationships

GOD’S RELATIONSHIP TO ME

Neal Pollard

The prophet Jeremiah was concerned about the task before him. He felt he was unqualified and unseasoned (1:6).  He was wrestling with fears (1:8).  Whether or not we preach the gospel, as Christians living in this world we can relate to how hard it can be to stand up for Jesus.

The “omniscient” (all-knowing) God makes three statements about the as yet unborn Jeremiah. The God who sees the future as though looking at the past (cf. Isa. 46:10) says some things about Jeremiah before he was placed in his parents’ arms.  Consider three things God tells Jeremiah to reassure him and that bear relevance to us today.

God knew him. This seems to be specific and personal. How exciting to think that God sees us, as our hair, organs, bones and features develop, and knows who we are.

God set him apart.  He says, “I consecrated you.”  Some in religious error have made too much of this, teaching that God chooses us against our will and arbitrarily decides whether we are saved or lost.  God is simply saying, “I had you in mind to work for me.”  Isn’t it incredible to think that God thinks so much of us as to give us work to do.  The Great Commission confirms that God thinks that way about you and me, too (cf. Mark 16:15).

God gave him a job.  He says, “I appointed you.”  Does God determine your occupation, location, and station in life?  I cannot answer for Him, but He says that Jeremiah was appointed a prophet.  Jeremiah could have exercised free will and rejected the assignment, but that does not negate what God saw for him.  I know that Paul says we have differing abilities (cf. Rom. 12:6; 1 Cor. 12:4ff).  Observation says that we have different personalities, temperaments, and characteristics.  Whatever that is, we are all well-suited to serve some way in God’s kingdom.  The question then only remains, “Will we do our job?”

God is not detached and unconcerned about this world or the seven-plus billion people currently inhabiting it.  We can deduce that from the way He spoke of just one man who died over 2,500 years ago.  It is another proof of God’s desire to “relate” to us.  It should move us to want to “relate” to Him.

The “Three Year Glitch”

Neal Pollard

Does it ever seem like the information age, our current age of technological advances, is all-consuming?  It has, according to a new survey, even impacted the attention span the average person gives to his or her mate once married.  The proverbial “seven year itch,” for years a benchmark test of a relationship when romance and passion were eclipsed by annoyances and mundanity, has shrunk with society’s attention span and attention to the other’s needs as more important than self’s.

The survey of over 2000 Britons, a study commissioned by Warner Brothers, found that work, financial worries, and other facets of “hard work” in a relationship were leading couples these days more quickly to boredom and aggravation with one another.  Often, this has led to couples wanting more time apart from one another.  Too often, it has led to marital infidelity.  Detractions and annoyances in relationships leading to this “3-year-glitch” include such things as weight gain and lack of exercise, hygiene issues, in-laws, money (spending too much or too little), alcohol, snoring, lack of romance, fashion lapses, and more (some information from Reuters.com).

As we step back from this study, we can observe several things.  First, these relational trends reflect society’s general worldview.  Materialism and plenty, when focused and consumed upon self, can quickly lead to boredom.  Second, these relational issues are like the poor–“they are always with us” (cf. John 12:8).  They exist from the day we walk down the aisle together and embark on the honeymoon.  They are typically no worse at 50 years than they were at 50 seconds into the relationship.  That means that, each day we live in married life together, we must continually remind ourselves of all that’s good in our mate and of all that drew us to him or her in the first place.  Marriage is not a license to let up but instead to lather up what was done in courting.  How dishonest to act one way to “get” someone and another once we “got ’em.”  Third, marriage must be viewed as a marathon rather than a 40-yard-dash.  Our lives are filled with change and stages, and God’s people learn to adjust and grow with them.

May we be dedicated to building the “All Our Years Rich” trend.  Whether God gives us only a few years together or 60 or 70, let us resolve to spend the time building up our mate and helping them go to heaven.  That will scratch any itch and fix any glitch!