A God I Can Get to Know

8.30.2010

Ezekiel 11:19-20 19 And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. ESV

This is probably one of the greatest promises in the entire Bible; the Lord will give us a heart of flesh and in place of a heart of stone. Stone hearts are hard hearts. Stone hearts are cold and lifeless. Stone hearts are un-teachable. God never intended for us to be robots and so the writers of the Old Testament recognized there was something missing in the whole God/man-equation. What was missing was real feeling, real emotion, and real relationship – not God through intermediaries, but God up close and individually personal.

My relationship with ‘God’ is not an organization although the church is somewhat organized. My relationship with ‘God’ is not through a book of rules. My relationship with ‘God’ is not by trying to be good to somehow earn His trust or His approval – my relationship with God is as with a friend; He calls me His son and allows me to call Him my Father. It is a living relationship with a living Being who cares that I live up to His standards but doesn’t club me when I don’t. He cares for me with a living love and is intimately and infinitely involved with my life that I may spend eternity with Him.

But what about sin, you ask. God is a God of correction and life, not of retribution and death. God confronts the sinner with this simple statement – Get to know Me and you’ll cease sinning because you’ll see that only I can perfectly and endlessly meet all of your needs for love, life and satisfaction. That’s a God I can get to know!

Father in Heaven,

Job one is getting to know You. Getting to know You is getting to have a heart of flesh in real relationship with You. Thank You for a new heart, a new life and for a real relationship with You through Jesus Christ and by Your Holy Spirit – amen.