{"id":6643,"date":"2020-08-23T14:34:06","date_gmt":"2020-08-23T04:34:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/?p=6643"},"modified":"2020-08-23T14:34:08","modified_gmt":"2020-08-23T04:34:08","slug":"the-realest-relationship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/the-realest-relationship\/","title":{"rendered":"The Realest Relationship"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

The Realest Relationship<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adapted from The Purpose Podcast<\/a>, hosted by Christina Ibrahim and Daniel Mawad, featuring Fr Mark Basily<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

To\nunderstand the concept of having a relationship with God, we look back at the\nbeginning of creation of man. This begins to give us an explanation of the\nnecessity of a relationship with Christ, or the purpose of even knowing Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This begs\nthe question, why did God create us? Sometimes we need to look beyond the\nstandard answer of, \u201cGod is Love,\u201d or \u201cHe did it because He loves us.\u201d Anything\nmore than this may seem too difficult to comprehend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To answer\nthe big questions, we can start with smaller questions; why do I want to have\nchildren?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\nthink of it logically, it doesn\u2019t make sense. Kids are a drainer; they drain\nyour money, your time, your sleep. And they give you nothing in return. The\nreason why there is an inherent desire for children is the promise of a\npotential relationship. This compels us to have children. To share love. To\nenjoy life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From here,\nwe begin to see why Christ wants to have a relationship with His creation. The\npurpose of creation is to form a relationship, God is Love, and wants to share\nthat love. This may suggest that God was missing something before the creation\nof man. The belief in the Trinity and the three Persons of the Trinity\nnullifies this theory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

God was not\nalone, and therefore did not need creation. He was already in a relationship\nwith the Persons of the Trinity. What makes Christianity unique is that it was\nalways about a relationship. God wanted to be in a relationship with humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, sin\ncan be seen as a break in the relationship with Christ. Religion poses a series\nof rules, if you break one of these rules then you have sinned. This is a\nconstrained way of living, because if I step out of line that would make me a\nsinner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As\nChristians, this is not how we perceive our all-loving God. All throughout\nscripture, God presented Himself to the church as the Bridegroom. If this is\nthe relationship – as close as a bride and groom – then any break is not just\nsin but adultery. It is being unfaithful to your Beloved. Christ presented it\nin this way is to show that sin is missing the mark in your relationship with\nHim; not a set of rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A key\ndifference in our relationship of God compared to our relationships with others\nis that God will never give up on us. God gives us free-will and the ball is\nalways in our court to make a change. For as long as there is breath within us,\nwe are given the opportunity to know Christ. He presents Himself as a waiting\nFather, take the parable of the prodigal son for example. The father waits for\nhis son\u2019s return. He never gives up on creation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite\nthis, we, as humans do not always want a relationship with Christ, even as\nChristians. As humans, we\u2019re clever at burying our heads in the sand. We search\nfor happiness and are often willing to pursue Christ if this doesn\u2019t bring us\nimmediate satisfaction. Christianity can be too much, sometimes I just want to\nlive day to day, enjoy life. I don\u2019t want to think too deeply. It can be a\nstruggle to be happy when trying to maintain a relationship with Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do we\nget to a point where we are happy to strive for a relationship? There are so\nmany dimensions to take into consideration. If we have a journey with Christ, we\nprogress toward a destination, we should be quite confident that we are\ndeveloping a relationship. We are all at different levels, but on a journey. I\nknow Christ and I\u2019m growing in faith over time. I haven\u2019t reached the\ndestination but I am on a path that will lead to Christ. I\u2019m not proud because\nI\u2019ve made it and I do not despair because I haven\u2019t reached my destination yet.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What should\nwe expect on the journey? We all have a cross to carry, and the answer can seem\nto be that if you have relationship with Christ then that is the solution. A\nrelationship with Christ transforms our life. It transforms the good times and\nthe tough times. When you are connected to Christ, you have His support, you\nhave power, you have patience, you have hope for a better tomorrow. The reality\nis that we receive power by being connected to Him. When going through\ndifficult times, they don\u2019t go away but I am given strength to push forward. In\ntimes of joy, He magnifies my joy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having a\nrelationship with Christ is transformative, and pleasantly surprising even at\nthe start. We are more than physical beings, we have spirits and souls, we have\nbeen breathed on by the breath of God. If we only live physical lives, then we\ncannot be fully content. As soon as we embark on a relationship with Christ,\nthe void begins to be filled and this is most transformative part of a\nrelationship with Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our life\nshould be viewed in the context of eternity. Some people have extremely\ndifficult lives. A relationship with Christ helps, but it doesn\u2019t make our\nproblems disappear. Christ Himself said, \u201cIn the world you will have\ntribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.\u201d \u2013 John 16:33.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He doesn\u2019t\nsay, I will take away your problems, He says I have overcome the world. Be of\ngood cheer because there is another world to come. Even when I struggle, I have\nanother life to look forward to, and this is my hope in Jesus Christ. Will the\nrelationship help with my issues? Yes, it definitely helps, and there is power\nand strength to help me overcome, but they do not disappear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we want\nto start a relationship with Christ, the journey begins with communication. Narrow\nis the path that leads to life and not many find it. The followers of Christ\nare the minority. People come to realise that there is a place for Christ. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you come to realise that nothing in this life satisfies you, there is only one conclusion \u2013 that you were created for another life<\/em><\/p>C.S. Lewis<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

We must\nhave been created for something more than the temporal world we know. Not only\ndo we claim eternity, but we enjoy life on earth in a different way. When you\ntaste God, the struggle becomes more beautiful, all good things take hard work.\nDoesn\u2019t mean that it\u2019s not genuine because it\u2019s a struggle. On the contrary,\nanything that is precious, requires effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our lives\ncan be transformed if we see Christianity as a relationship with Christ. It is\nthe pearl of great price. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Realest Relationship Adapted from The Purpose Podcast, hosted by Christina Ibrahim and Daniel Mawad, featuring Fr Mark Basily To understand the concept of having a relationship with God, we look back at the beginning of creation of man. This begins to give us an explanation of the necessity of a relationship with Christ, or … Continue reading “The Realest Relationship”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6645,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[345,121,6,12,392],"class_list":["post-6643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-children","tag-creation","tag-love","tag-relationship","tag-trinity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6643"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6644,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6643\/revisions\/6644"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}