A love affair with God may change your life
Suppose you are interested in having an affair with God. You hear other people talk about the importance of God in their lives, and you are sure they are right and you wish God were important in your life, too, but He is not and you don't know what to do about it.
What would you say if I could tell you this morning how to go about having a real affair with God? It is risky business, of course, as any affair is, and it may change your life completely. But let's imagine that you are ready, that you really desire to have a relationship with the Almighty. How do you go about it?
Well, the first thing you might do is take a look at God's relationships with other people. With what kind of people has God had affairs before? What were the special qualities about them? How did they behave? What do you think drew them and God together?
Take David, for example. He is young and confident and he longs for God, for the presence of mystery and eternity.
"O God, Thou art my God," he said. "I seek Thee, my soul thirsts for Thee; my flesh faints for Thee; as in a dry and weary land where no water is."
David really cared about seeing God, didn't he? He wrote poems to the Almighty and told Him how much he wanted to see Him, to meet with Him. Do you suppose that has something to do with having a meaningful relationship?
Or take Jesus, who was responsible for saying, "Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." The same confidence David exhibited. And persistence, "Ask ... seek ... knock." Go after it, in other words. You want a relationship with God? Look for it. Do not stand around waiting for it to find you. You go out and find it.
Jesus' whole life was laid on the line for the sake of a relationship with God, wasn't it? He said once that the Kingdom of God is like a man who found treasure in a field and sold everything to buy that field. In other words, Jesus said you must passionately desire a relationship with God and be prepared to sacrifice for it. Then you are ready for an affair with God.
All right, let's suppose you really do want an affair with God; you have seen the commitment of people such as David, Mary and Jesus. You know something of the history of other great men and women of God and realize how large a part of religious desire plays in their lives. You believe you have such desire in your own heart. What do you do next? You figure out where God is most likely to be and you plan to cross paths with God there.
Where will you find God? The Bible says God is everywhere.
"If I ascend to heaven, Thou art there. If I make my bed in Sheol, Thou art there! If I take the wings in the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Thy hand shall lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me."
He would not be God if He were not everywhere, would He? But surely there are some places where God is more visible than other places. In the forest, for example, where the trees form a cathedral of nature and the birds sing the notes of an immemorial anthem. Or at the seashore, where the crashing waves seem always to rush up breathlessly from an eternal presence. Or in the theater where the excitement of clashing emotions is a reminder of some primeval drama of the soul. Or in church where the walls are hallowed by the tears of saints, marrying their young and burying their dead for centuries in the Lord.
Church - where other Christians are. That seems a capital place to meet God, doesn't it? Others have seen God there. They have said so.
I remember one evening at St. Meinrad Archabbey in southern Indiana. It was almost 9 o'clock, and we thought the old church sanctuary was deserted. But a door was unlocked, and we let ourselves in. Barely had we entered the darkened sanctuary when we heard the padding of sandaled feet. Two dozen brown-robed monks came striding through the shadows into the chancel and began singing a service to God.
I sat there thinking about their lives, devoted to singing such services and working about the grounds of the abbey. It was a good place, I decided, to find God. God seemed to inhabit the very air of the abbey, as well as the walls, floors and candles burning before the statue of the Virgin Mary.
But you may say, "I come to church and don't find God here. I think I'll give up."
No. You are wrong. Don't give up. Something in you, down below the level the consciousness, does find God here. Someday you will realize it. A word, a gesture, a note of a song will suddenly reveal God to you, and you will know God was here all along and you were feeding on God, you were brushing the hem of God's garment and you were having an affair with God.
The discipline of coming to church is important. Do not give it up, whatever you are feeling. You are crossing God's path here. You will become lovers by being here.
That is a problem with most of us, isn't it? We are so selfish, so ego-centered, that we do not trouble ourselves to wonder what God cares about, what God would like to see and to that which God is devoted.
I will tell you a secret. We already know what God is interested in. God is interested in the redemption of the world, in wholeness for everyone, in love and forgiveness and reconciliation and mending what is broken, in the Kingdom where the lion shall lie down with the lamb and the ox eat straw with the bear. God gave His only Son for this dream of His. God wants it more than anything in the universe.
And if you want to begin an affair with God, there is nothing better that you can do than show an interest in this by praying for it, by working for it - by forgiving your enemies and by laying down your life for the redemption of the world. Then you will soon learn how much you and God have in common.
Does all this sound viable? There is one more thing I must tell you. When you begin an affair with the Divine Heart of the universe, you should be prepared to be swept up by the passion of it. I mean, you do not go into any affair without the chance that you will fall head over heals in love and cannot get out. And you certainly do not go into an affair with God and expect to walk out of it without a mark on you, with your sanity intact, as your own person. God has a way of turning your whole life upside down. God will really shake you up. You may not even know what hit you.
I have been reading the autobiography of David Watson, the Anglican curate who brought unexpected life to St. Michael's parish in York, England, stimulated church renewal all over the world, and, when he was ill and dying of cancer in London, was visited by bishops and archbishops and royalty because of the great impact he had on modern Christianity.
The first chapter in the book is called "Experiment of Faith." It tells how as a student at Cambridge University, he and his friend, Sam, enjoyed going around to the various clubs of the university to sample their refreshments and see what was going on in them. They planned to go to everything and join nothing. One afternoon at 4 o'clock, they went for tea at the Christian Union, thinking it would be a lark to go there, have some sandwiches and tea and skip away to something else.
One thing on which they had not counted was an earnest young speaker who talked with obvious sincerity about the Christian faith as a relationship with Jesus Christ. Watson listened more intently than he planned, for the speaker was talking from personal experience.
Afterward, as they were making their escape, the speaker was standing by the door. Recognizing the old school tie Watson was wearing, he spoke to him, and in the course of the conversation, said, "Forgive me for asking you a personal question. You may remember that a moment ago I spoke of Christianity as a friendship with Jesus. Do you think that you know Jesus personally, or are you not quite sure about it?"
Watson was caught. One thing led to another, and before he knew it he had committed himself to a series of conversations with the young clergyman. These, in turn, led to his commitment to Christian ministry and a life spent in witnessing to the gospel good news.
A simple flirtation - an "experiment," as he termed it - and his whole life turned on it.
It may well happen to you, and you should be warned before you begin an affair with God. Jesus said that anyone who puts his hand to the plow and then turns back is not worthy of the Kingdom. He also said that a smart builder does not begin erecting a tower until he has estimated the cost and is sure that he can pay for it.
But, as one who began to learn the romance of God as a mere boy, I can tell you with some authority: There is no greater way to spend your life.
Dr. Fred Andrea is the pastor of Aiken's First Baptist Church.