Relationship

Relationship is one of the hardest journeys we undertake. We all live from different levels of understanding, freedom, and maturity, even in our relationship with God the Father. Outwardly, we may appear to be doing the same things, yet inwardly we may be living from very different places.

Jesus said:

"Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and the other left."

They were engaged in the same work, yet God saw something different within them.

Two people can attend the same church, read the same Scriptures, pray the same prayers, and serve in the same ministry, yet one lives from striving while another lives from rest. One serves in order to be accepted; another serves because they already know they are loved. Outwardly, their lives may appear almost identical, yet the source from which they live is entirely different.

The Father has always looked beyond appearances. He sees the heart. He is not simply seeking those who do the right things, but those who truly know Him and have entered His rest.

Jesus did not simply come to teach us how to live. He came to bring us into relationship with the Father, so that His own life might become our life. The closer we draw to Him, the more our striving gives way to rest, our performance gives way to love, and our independence gives way to dependence upon Him.

In the end, perhaps the greatest difference is not what we do, but the place from which we live.

God does not measure our lives merely by our deeds, but by the heart from which they flow. Jesus' desire is that we would be where He is, living in the same relationship with the Father that He Himself enjoyed.

Many of those who have come to live from this place have remained hidden from the eyes of the world. They hold no position of prominence, seek no recognition, and many people do not even know they exist. Yet the Father knows them.

I live on monastery land where I quietly observe some of these hidden lives. They remind me that God has always worked through people the world overlooks. While the world looks for influence, He looks for relationship. While the world measures success by what is seen, the Father delights in what has been formed in secret.

"For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory."— Colossians 3:3–4