Unfortunately, we don’t “do” relationship very well. We are poor lovers of God and others. As male and female image-bearers, we are both victims and agents. We’re deeply wounded by others, and in turn, we deeply wound them. As we experience pain in relationships, our primary commitment becomes protecting ourselves and then manipulating others to meet our needs. Rather than depend on the Father for Life, we try to make our lives work in the way that seems best to us. The essence of sin is this independence from the Father that manifests itself in our lack of love. Our self-centeredness grieves the Father’s heart, for He values relationship above all else. Our sin violates relationship and separates us from the Life that comes from connectedness to the Father. He lovingly beckons us to shift our understanding of where Life comes from and to change the direction of our lives – to turn from Self and to Him.
The Father Tells Us
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
Proverbs 14:12
“My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me,
the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”
Jeremiah 2:11-13
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God….For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 3:23 & 6:23
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“Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare.
Give ear and come to me;
listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
my faithful love promised to David.
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare.
Give ear and come to me;
listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
my faithful love promised to David.
“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off —for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.
I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions —it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.