Me:  Howdy Prodigal, Are you climbing?

 

Prodigal:  Yes, I am trying to make it to the top as fast as I can.

 

Me:  What happens when you make it to the top?

 

Prodigal:  You know, I have not figure that out yet.  I think it means everything will be perfect.

 

Me:  No, that is not quite true.

 

James Gills talks about fighting to the top in the book The Unseen Essential.

 

Many of us go through life trying to climb to the top of our professional fields.  We want to be the very best.  Science, medicine, economics, business, or education–it matters little.  The race to the top is the same, regardless.  Fighting and elbowing our way to the pinnacle of our respective pile, we wind up on the bottom of life because we’re missing the very center, which is Christ.  We must come to a point of agreement where we understand who He is, who we are in relation to Him, and what He considers important.  Climbing to the top or having the most “toys” is not what pleases God.

Oftentimes, our line of sight is fixed only on the horizontal.  Today’s philosophies train young people early to value things more than people.  We all focus on what we can acquire rather than on what we can give.  Such an attitude of consumerism has become  a way of life, crossing the boundaries into Christian camps.  It has insidiously wormed its way in and destroyed the Church’s sense of values concerning this most important of all relationships.  Many of us want to know exactly what the church can do for us before we join.  Before some us will even give our lives to Jesus Christ, we want to know the complete “benefits package,” as we would before accepting an employment opportunity.  From that moment on, we pray, asking Him to give, give, give.  Selfishness reigns.  How many people go to church just to share or, better yet, live their lives filled with a desire to give to God?  Not many.  Can we expect to grow close to Him when we haven’t the faintest idea of what it means to be in a relationship with Him–the Creator of heaven and earth?

 

What does it mean to me, to be in a relationship with God?

It means I value that relationship.

It means I nurture it everyday.

It means sometimes I don’t agree with God but I surrender to Him.

It means I don’t understand God but I am obedient to Him.

It means that I listen to His voice and tune out the voice of men.

It means that I have a love that is worthy of holding onto, fighting for and cherishing because it has changed me for the better.

 

Jeremiah 31:3

The Lord appeared to him from far away.  I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.

 

Jennifer Van Allen

 

www.faithincounseling.org

www.theprodigalpig.com