Lessons for Living from the Bible in Everyday English by Dennis Magee

Everyone requires a close relationship with God because He created each of us with a void that can only be filled by Himself. Sinful thoughts and actions separate us from God, and it is only by obeying God’s commands and His precepts that we can have this relationship. His principal commands are to believe in Christ and love others. This becomes progressively easier to do when we grow to love God and desire Him more and more. But this can’t come from our own efforts alone; we need to pray to God for the help of the Holy Spirit to give us this desire to love Him. Our willing obedience is a fruit that comes from our love for God, and will flow naturally and joyfully from this love. Any attempts to just mechanically obey God’s commands will not produce this love for God.

For many of us loving God is an abstract concept because we don’t experience Him through sight, sound, touch or any of our physical senses by which we perceive the world. But it can become less abstract and more real as we realize everything we hold of value, the creation itself and all its beauty and bounty, the people we care about and our works and accomplishments are but cloudy reflections of the full glory of God. We can continue to grow in our valuing and appreciating of these things only as we draw closer to God himself, the one who created and sustains it all. Moreover, we gain a renewed appreciation for these things as we understand that all we’ve been given, and life itself, are gifts from God.

To draw closer to God we also need to pray to Him in the Holy Spirit to help us grow in our knowledge of Him. This happens as a direct result of spending time with Him. To do this we need to pray regularly, read His word to us, the Bible, attend church and fellowship with other Christians. As we grow in our relationship with God then we can live lives of joyful obedience to Him. And in so doing, we will grow in our ability to enjoy all God has given us in this life, and have the assurance of fullness of joy when we see Him in His full glory when we spend eternity with Him. This also gives us the fulfillment of knowing that we are living for something bigger than ourselves, to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever.

God wants nothing more than a full, intimate relationship with each of us. As the maker and sustainer of each of us as well as everything else, this is His due. God wants this relationship only if we can give it freely and without feeling we are sacrificing or giving it grudgingly. But most of us choose to exercise our freedom of choice by pursuing the comforts, pleasures, security and good things this life has to offer. It is only by keeping God at the center of it all, and growing in our relationship with Him, that we can enjoy all He’s given us to enjoy to its fullest. Fortunately, to everyone who has accepted Jesus as Savior and asked Him to fill us and change our lives, we have the help of the Holy Spirit to keep our priority on growing our relationship with God.