I've been thinking about how we regard this thing we call a "Relationship" with God
I was reading in Velvet Elvis about how the bible never says anything about a relationship with God and that it is something that has been brought in to try and express something that is unexpressable.
I wonder if a different way to express this could be to go back to the picture of a servant.
When I think of a servant I think of a person who willingly serves their master- this is different to a slave who has no choice, a slave is purchased and is property, yet a servant is willing, a servant acts for the masters good and seeks to please his/her master.
I seem to remember a parable that talks about how different servants were given differing responsibility based on their ability and trustworthyness. A trustworthy servant is given freedom and independance to make decisions on behalf of the master to benefit the masters cause. I wonder if this is what God seeks for us, he is happy for us to make decisions while in his service that will further his cause.A trustworthy servant is given freedom and independance to make decisions on behalf of the master to benefit the masters cause
This is a different view to the "relationship" with Jesus way of viewing things, I know of soo many people (including myself) who are looking for a mystical magical relationship with Jesus, there is almost a expectation that you will always 'feel' in Gods presence and that it will be super. The difference when you start viewing things through the eyes of a servant is that there will be times when you spend time with the master (e.g. times of prayer, worship, bible reading) but there will also be times when you are not in the masters presence (i.e. when you are not spending time activly talking/listening to God) but you are still working to further his cause. I wonder if we get caught up on the being with the master and when we are not "with him" we feel like we are a bad servant.
What do you think? Am I off track?
2 comments:
Curtis thought i'd reply here... i like your thinking, especially the idea of further the masters cause... of course the temptation is to throw the baby and the bath water out so keep room for the personal relationship after all the servant still talks to and hears from the master... i guess the basis of this relationship (servant and master) is one of mutual respect trust and care...
I agree, A servant has time with his master and has a relationship with him, A servant who has a good relationship with his master will have times where he just sits in the masters presence or talks with him.
But what is dangerous is to focus all the importance ("spirituality") on those times and to feel that time not spent in the masters presence is time wasted or that the servant is a bad servant because they are not in a continual state of talking with the master.
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