An eternal and relational God

I used that phrase in the message this week and as I thought about the implications of the God that I get to talk about on Sundays being relational, I was overcome by the depth of that simple statement.

I am reading Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller. He talks alot about God being a relational God. He talks about needing to be valued in relationship. Meaning he needed someone to value what he brought to the table. After failing at soccer and tennis and guitar he tried to memorize poetry and it worked. People called him smart because of this new depth that seemed to have because he could recite poetry. Here is a quote from the book:: "It seemed that every human being had this need for something outside himself to tell him who he was...It explains why I wanted to be seen as smart, why religious people needed to be seen as right, why Shirley MacLaine wanted to be God, and just about eveything else a human did."

There is briliance in this idea. We go around this earth with a need for people to tell things that prove we have worth or that they value us. This is generally how we choose our friends. It is a good way to make friends. We are wired to crave relationships. We are wired to crave relationships in which we can be real, we can show our flaws and still be not just accepted, but valued.

If you know me you know that I love my wife deeply. There are many reasons for this and I won't bore you with them all. But one of the reasons that is near the top of the list is that she values me and loves me back despite my failures to protect her in important times (which by the way makes me a hypocrit), despite my laziness, despite falling in love with me when I was on track to make a six figure salary by age 30 only to cash that in for a career in the fish bowl of ministry making less than a six figure salary. She values who I am and that is very attractive to me.

We all have this need to be valued, it is in the core of who are. Some Christian leaders would charge you to rid yourself of your need to be valued. I say embrace it, run toward it, seek it out with all that you are. I say this because the eternal and relational God that I talked about on Sunday values you. The one who breathed and all the stars were born values you. Isn't there something greater about being valued when the one who values you is of great value. In this case the one who values you is of supreme value.

When I was in high school I was on the golf team and our best player was a guy named Neal. Neal worked at a golf course and one day on our way to practice Neal talked about this guy who was at his course the night before. I forget who the guy was, but he was someone of acclaim in the golf world. He was talking to Neal and found out that Neal was a pretty good high school player and so they went out on the driving range at the course and he had Neal hit some balls and was going to give him some pointers. After they did this for a bit and were walking back inside the guy told Neal that Neal had the quickest hands that he had ever seen for a kid his age (quick hands are really important for a golf swing). As Neal was telling us this story he was beaming. This guy of much acclaim had given him great value. He said it in such a way that Neal knew he was not just blowing smoke. Neal felt very valued because this man of acclaim had told him how fast his hands were.

The creator of this world could have chosen any way he wanted to spread the word about who He is and what He has done. But He has chosen people to be the way He does that. He believes in you, He values you. Go and value someone today. Go.