From, Over, For, Under or With: 5 Ways to Relate to God

 

"Life with God"’s goal is God Himself as the focus of our desire. … God sent Jesus to be with us. + Skye Jethani, With

1) Life from God: We want a holy God’s blessings and gifts, but we are not particularly interested in a holy God Himself (“Every morning I wake up and pray for God to do _ for me.”). We consume what God gives for ourselves.

2) Life over God: We lose the mystery and wonder of a holy God as we would rather take proven formulas and controllable outcomes (“I really don’t think much about a holy God.”). We see how the world works and make it better.

3) Life for God: We want a significant life and see it as one expending ourselves for great things in service to God (“If we could just grasp _ more passionately through better _, we’d see _.”). If we get the mission right, then we’ll feel alright.

4) Life under God: We see God in cause-and-effect – we obey His commands and He blesses our lives, family, nation (“If we can just stop liberalism/traditionalism/legalism/progressivism, God will make the U.S. safe again.”). We exert control over God through obedience ROI.

5) Live with God: Life under, over, from, and for God each seeks to use God to achieve some other goal. God is seen as a means to an end. Life from God uses him to supply our material desires. Life over God uses Him as the source of principles. Life under God tries to manipulate God through obedience to secure blessings and avoid setbacks. And life for God uses Him and His mission to give us life direction and purpose ...

But life with God’s goal is God Himself as the focus of our desire. … God sent Jesus to be with us. His plan to restore His creation was not to send a list of rules and rituals to follow (life under God), nor was it the implementation of useful principles (life over God). He did not send a genie to grant us our desires (life from God), nor did He only give us a task to accomplish (life for God). Instead God Himself came to be with us to walk with us again as He did in Eden in the beginning.

+ Skye Jethani, With: Reimagining the Way We Relate to God

P.S. Here is an additional link to consider our life with God:

+ Story of God | Immanuel, God with Us, Has Always Been His Plan for Us

Christ is all,

Rev. Mike “Sully” Sullivan

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