Relating to God in "With"

11-29-2011

Q: Where does the concept of Life WITH God come from?

A: The opening verse of John’s gospel is one of many texts in the Scriptures that support the Christian belief in a Trinitarian God. The Trinity, the notion of one eternal God existing in three persons (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit) is a foundational, and admittedly mind-twisting, doctrine of Christianity. But it is also where Life With God finds its origin. With Jesus an entirely different way of relating to God is revealed to us.

Q: Why do Christians have such difficulty grasping the call to live with God?

A: Our instinct, like all people, is to seek self-rule and a posture apart from God. The Scriptures and Christian tradition call this rebellious human desire for control apart from God sin. Yet most of us retain some sense that God is important, that He must be factored into our lives in some way even if only to control Him. But rather than engage in life-giving communion with Him, we opt for one of the other four postures through which we try to manipulate, use, cajole, or appease Him.

Since Eden, our human capacity to relate properly with God has been severely impaired. Like pilots in a fog with malfunctioning instruments, we cannot tell that we are flying upside down, no matter how sincere our efforts at navigating may be. This is the affect of sin. Life With God is different because its goal is not to use God; it’s goal is God. He ceases to be a device we employ or a commodity we consume. Instead, God himself becomes the focus of our desire. But before we can really desire God we must have a clear understanding of who He is and what He is like. The reason most people gravitate to one of the other four postures is because they’ve never received a clear vision of who God is, and so they settle for something less.

Q: So how can Christians experience this constant communion with God?

A: The Gospels show that Jesus lived in constant communion with the Father even when no words were used. This view of prayer is what Paul had in mind when he commands Christians to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Paul is calling us to live as Jesus did -- in constant communion with God. This is made possible by the presence of God’s Spirit within us. We are invited to live in ongoing communion with God, and this is made possible through the presence of his Spirit who is with us. By granting us his presence through the Holy Spirit, we can, as Dallas Willard said, “have our treasure now.” We can live in constant, unending communion with God.

Q: You say in your book that control is an illusion, but what is the alternative? How can we be set free from fear, apart from our feeble attempts at control?

A: No amount of control will ever be enough to ensure our safety, and no amount of control will ever remove our fears. In addition, whatever comfort we do gain through control is little more than a placebo effect. We are fooling ourselves into believing we are safe when in fact we are not. Faith is the opposite of seeking control. It is surrendering control. It embraces the truth that control is an illusion -- we never had it and we never will. Rather than trying to overcome our fears by seeking more control, the solution offered by Life With God is precisely the opposite -- we overcome fear by surrendering control. But surrender is only possible if we have total assurance that we are safe. We must be convinced that if we let go, we’ll be caught. This assurance only comes when we trust that our heavenly Father desires to be with us & won’t let us fall.

Q: And this Life With God posture is what breaks the cycle of fear and control that plagues the other four postures of religious life.

A: Yes. Once this cycle is interrupted, genuine faith (surrender), hope (purpose), and ultimately love, become accessible to us. What brings a person value, significance, and hope is not what he does, but who he does it with. The call to live in continual communion with God means that every person’s life, no matter how mundane, is elevated to sacred heights.

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Learn more about Skye Jathani at www.skyejethani.com