The
first words of the Bible are, “In the beginning God…” (Genesis
1:1). If that
is all the Bible ever said, it would be enough.
Ultimately, spirituality comes down to, “Do you believe
that there is
something bigger than us and more to our lives than what we see
every day?”
The
next word in that verse is important too.
It says that God “created”.
In
fact, Genesis asserts that God created everything that we see
around us
including the heavens and the earth, light and dark, land and sea
until,
finally, he created humans in his own image (verse 26) “male and
female” (verse
27).
By
the
end of Genesis 2, we see a pattern forming.
Picture a triangle with God’s name at the top, Adam’s at
one corner and
Eve’s at the other. Adam
is in
relationship with God (the vertical portion of the triangle) and
has a
relationship with Eve (the horizontal line of the triangle). Eve, in turn, lives in the
same pattern because
her corner of the triangle is connected vertically to God and
horizontally to
Adam.
Here is the
important part: Everyone
lives with-in that same triangular pattern.
Your life is not one dimensional. Whether you know it or not, you
were created
to live in connection with God and in relationship with others.
This
basic truth is so important, that when Jesus was asked, “Of all
the
commandments, which is the most important?” he responded with the
exact same
triangular pattern. “Love
the Lord your
God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind and with
all your strength. The
second is this:
Love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater
than these”
(Mark 12:30-31). Every
spiritual truth
that you can think of revolves around either our relationship with
God or our
relationship with others.
In light of this, 1
Corinthians
6:19 states that, “You are not your own!”
Therefore, we make a huge mistake when we live and act as
if we are only
responsible to and for ourselves.
Your
relationships, both with God and with others, are the most
important thing
about you, because it is within that triangle that you receive and
share the
blessings of God.
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