Relationship

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the PARC - October 

Relationship. It seems that I have been hearing that word a lot lately. It's important. We long for it. God made us to need and want relationship. A few months ago I was reading the Old Testament. If I am going to be truthful, I was having a little bit of a hard time with some of the books. For one thing, some of them are just hard to read. All of those rules and laws. I don't mean to whine, but it's hard. As I was reading Leviticus, a particularly 'hard' one, I was so struck by God's love for us and His desire for relationship. There is chapter after chapter, verse after verse about all of the 'rules' the people needed to follow to come into His presence. To hear from Him and to know Him. 

These weren't senseless rules to make the lives of the Israelites miserable and the jobs of the priests harder. These rules were set in place by God so that someone could enter into His presence to meet with Him. They would then speak to the people on behalf of God. There is chapter after chapter and verse after verse on how very important it was for everyone to bring their sacrifices and offerings to the Lord because of their sin. If they didn't do it correctly or they did it without reverence, they died!! It was serious.

But here is the beautiful truth. God accepted that we are all but dust and still values relationship so much He sent His son to die. Since Jesus died for us, paid the sacrifice, we can now come into the presence of God with full acceptance anytime we want! We can come directly to Him. In fact, we can come boldly! THAT is how much God values and wants relationship.

One of the core values at the PARC is relationship. In fact, our wall says, 'We Choose Relationship'. God chooses relationship. Relationship requires commitment and sacrifice. It is in the relationship that people find value, connection, validation, confidence and worth. But relationship requires sacrifice. It requires time and understanding. It requires acceptance.