Relationships 101

So, you saw this headline and you were jolted immediately. Your eyes brightened and you said; what is Uche going to talk about now? Maybe you also opened this to confirm your suspicions, or you're like, what he know anyway? just chill for a bit with your questions in your mind. Religion has been quite an issue. You have always heard the cliche; "Christianity is not religion, but relationship." How I wish more and more people with wholesome (wholesome is the key word) relationships could approach their relationship with God the same way with their partner and vice versa. Whether it's a married couple, engaged couple, or people just dating. We wouldn't have so much problems if we did it right and the same way with God, like with a spouse or partner. Now I am not going to claim team single, but there are a couple of things I've known and observed as similarities with our relationship with God and between ourselves. 1. God wants to be first in our lives. Our waking thought, and our sleeping thought. He wants to be the first person we talk to in the morning and the last at night. It is actually dangerous if we let anyone take the place of God in our life. The truth is, God is even the one that can help you love another person. The extent to which you rub off from God's glory and grace determines the success of your relationship. God can teach you how to love, not lil Wayne. So loving and putting God first doesn't jeopardize our own earthly relationships, it reinforces it. 2. Just like the first point, God requires constant communication from us. A Sunday Sunday Christian is a no no! Just like people in a relationship want to always be talking everytime and checking up on themselves God also wants open, regular communication with us. It's called prayer. Prayer is not a monologue, but a dialogue. You speak God listens, God speaks, you listen. Prayer is not a self righteous uphill task that we pride ourselves in. It should be as easy as saying hello to a friend. 3. God's love constrains us. People keep saying they're not perfect enough, but God still loves them. Very true. But some of this same people don't make the slightest effort to please the person (God in this case) that they love. Imagine knowing that someone you love wouldn't have you do something. Now it would be a situation of gross unfairness if you do know, and keep doing that same thing to hurt their feelings. Same with God. God loves us and forgives us, but we should love him back too much not to keep messing up, and rest in his grace to help us anytime we fall short. 4. We should always be proud to associate ourselves with God and not be ashamed. Just like a woman takes on her husband's name as a new identity, everyone around us should know us as children of God every time. 5. You cannot bribe God to bless you. I give offerings and sometimes tithes because I love God, and not because I am expecting anything in return. Same way we show love to those we love and can go any extent. Sure God blesses, and we should have an amount of expectation when we give, but look at it, all you have was given to you by God, an offering is an opportunity for you to tell God how thankful you are to him, and also an opportunity to be blessed. But trust me on this one; you cannot bribe God to do something for you. 6. Know and believe the love God has for you. The things we do for love...do you know how much God loves you? and how much he's willing to do for you? unfortunately, so many people give up on God in the process, same way some people will have nothing to do with some others because of they've measured them in a certain standard. Then one day those people they measured hit jackpot... God loves you, hold your head up high. Believe things would work out, expect good things to happen to you, expect to stand out, because God Almighty, the creator of the universe loves you! Always be conscious of God's love for you no matter what. Don't expect worse, expect better! expect to be exceptional, because your father loves you. 7. Trust. Without trust in a relationship, there is just no point. I trust God with my life. Afterall He gave it to me. This confidence and trust in God is the knowledge that God cannot mismanage your life. Through the good bad and the ugly. No matter what or who comes or goes, who tells you no, whichever place or point you find yourself in life, know that God is in control of your life, and everything will work for your good! 8. Truth. God requires truth in our most inward places. There is a need for us all to have an altar of honesty with God where we can let it all out; fear, flaws, insecurities, hopes, ambitions, dreams, disappointments, all of it to God. Stop trying to fake that you have it all together. You don't. I can go on and on, but the truth is that until we start approaching Christianity as a relationship with God, we will always burn out and get tired of this race and our faith, and we'll start seeing serving God as a bore or a chore. And as distance shouldn't be a problem in our human relationships, you too haven't not seen God yet, still love Him, up until the time He shall be revealed unto us and we would see Him as He really is!

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