More Than Mere Sheep

More Then Mere Sheep

My relationship with God echos something deeper then just one of his sheep, even deeper than a servant. When God speaks to me he talks to me with tenderness and passion, as if he is revealing the most tender part of his heart. Everything that I know about the heart of God "although it is not much, the joy of being in love means I have the rest of my life to discover who he is". Simple truths, that his heart for us is profoundly good, not only because of his sacrifice and the way that it happened, but because of who he was when he came as a man. Knowing who Jesus is has everything to do with how we talk about him. If you read scripture as a way of information about how we are to conduct our living and Jesus as the example it leaves little room for the heart of humanity. When I talk about my friend I cannot describe her like an instruction manual. A respected pastor said If you were to try and describe a  what a kiss is as two vestibule oris touching while exchanging bodily digestive fluid, anyone who has been kissed knows that although that may be the technical term of a kiss, that is not a kiss. The same is how we talk about God. So often we here the messages delivered in such a way that removes the humanity of God. We get lost in the words and there greek or spiritual meaning. So much of what I know of him is how I have experienced him, like I experience romance, or friendship, even comfort from a friend, and discipline from my husband.

My relationship with God has been ascending in a direction of intimacy. When I first surrendered my heart, my life to him I was so broken it was as if the potters hand rested sovereign on me shaping me into who more then lump clay. It was as though I was pounded till I broke and became moldable by the most tender hands. Then my relationship moved from the calling me to be more. Where I became completely dependent on him providing me with protection, food. I am the sheep he is the shepherded. Yet although we are moving upward in relationship because before I was being shaped it lacks tremendously. I, as a sheep am completely reliant unable to give back to the heart of God that which he made me to be, there is no interplay of giving and receiving. 

The relationship moved still in a upward climb and I became servant. This is unfortunately where most christens stop the climb. We become experts in efficiency, we become busy crossing off our to do list. We expand the mind in terms and debate interpretations of scripture. We strive to serve do more in less time and we began to study the mind of God and his heart is still missing for the equation. Although at this point I am no-longer inhuman in its metaphor. But it falls a far cry to short of the father relationship. 

God as my father has been the most transforming of places for me. I did not have a father that was good to me so my understanding was so warped. But if I look at it like this, my children get the best part of me. When I have money I pour it into them, when my oldest shares a desire with me I do my best to get that for her, I want them to have the best of me. If I had credit cards I would give it to her so that she could go shopping, but I am totally different with an employee / coworker. Sometimes I will get them flowers or even cards, maybe even occasionally use words of endearment, but that is the pretty much the extent of it. Having God show up as a father is the most healing for my heart, for my story and God knew that. So many times I have said Father I am in need please provide and he has never not provided. The love from him in understanding that there is nothing  Nothing that I will ever do that can separate his love from me. Fathering is where we move that he loves us from our head to our heart.

Then there is a transition to friend. This is interesting because when my daughter was younger it was all about me providing. Although she filled my heart to where she could but it really was a one sided relationship. As she gets older we share struggles and walk with God through them. Our relationship is deeper and richer because there is the divine interplay of relational worship. Thus is the heart of God. Where he calls us to come with him not because he needs us but for the sole purpose of wanting to hang out with us. For me this friendship has been the most satisfying in many ways. He has called me up to do things I never would just to face my fear with me while he is my biggest cheer leader. This is the place where God personality comes out like a good friend in which you joke around with, carry the inside joke and have your secrets. 

But, the romance of God that simply takes your breath away. The way that it can be completely freezing outside and the sun comes through the clouds and warms your back only as though the Lord himself has wrapped his royal robe around you, or the way that God has made the ocean waves not to high or to small so that we could stand in them, or how he has hung the moon, or the way the sun kisses the night with the morning rise. What about the way the light filters through the trees as if to light a mystic path. The enchantment and mystery of my lover God mystifies me.

This relationship is vastly missed. I wonder what God thinks of how we interpret his heart and worse how much of his heart we leave out. I wonder how you would feel if your child described you the way that we describe God, or if your husbands / wives pursue your heart the way that you pursue the heart of God. Sadly this is so common that is why divorce rates are so high. There is so much to God to be discovered beyond the although correct description, servant master. It is in the discovery of his heart that we become filled with life and out of that life we pour out.

God is passionately in love with you as thought you were his only creation! How do you picture Jesus in your life in your experiences where is he and what does he think about you, about your heart?