Relationship Over Religion :: By Sean Gooding

John 14:22-23

“Judas (not Iscariot) asked Him, ‘Lord, why are You going to reveal Yourself to us and not to the world?’ Jesus replied, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.”

I hope that all is well with you all. It has been a few weeks since I last wrote, and the break was much needed. Please pray for us as my wife’s father recently passed away, and we are dealing with the stuff that comes after and the inevitable emotions that come into play. He was 81 years old, and as I sat with him and the family as he passed, it came to my mind that 23 years is not a long time. That is how far I am from 81. By then, my kids and grandkids would all be grown adults with kids themselves. Then I begin to wonder, well, what if Jesus comes back? Then I wonder if I will get to be raptured alive, or will I go the way of most people, into the grave.

Lately, there have been a lot of negativities online about the Lord and those of us who hold to Him. We have been called fools, misled, and just stupid. There continue to be serious attacks on Jesus and whether He was a real person. There are those who claim that the Gospel writers wrote much, much later and simply shaped the narrative to make it look like Jesus fulfilled prophecies. Many deny the very crucifixion, and of course, without that, there is no need for a resurrection.

These are the same arguments that have gone on forever and ever from various persons. There is a hatred for Christians, for the Word of God, and surely, we are simply fooled by dogma and fail to recognize the data. These are not the first to question the Bible, Jesus and God himself, and if time persists, they will not be the last. But with each generation, the Bible simply stays, and they die.

The Wall Street Journal reports that in 2023, there were 14,000,000 Bibles sold, and by October of 2024, Bible sales surged 22% compared to the same period last year. The naysayers are NOT winning. Their propaganda is not slowing the sales of the Bible one bit.

In our verse, Jesus gives us a promise that God himself will come and make a home with those of us who ‘keep His word’ – those of us who trust that Jesus is God, that He is God in the flesh, the Creator, and the one who came to give His life as a sacrifice for our sins, then arose from the dead three days later and is coming again to judge the world. We who have put our trust in Him only as the full payment of our sin debt to God are promised that God the Father will make His home with us. This is about a relationship, and it has never been about religion. This is what our atheist and agnostic friends miss.

As I had mentioned earlier, my father-in-law died a couple of days ago. My wife and I were out running errands the Friday before he passed. She knew he had not been feeling well and had this urge to go and sit with him. She did; she helped him eat dinner, and within a few hours of her coming home, we got a phone call that he was found unresponsive. And less than 48 hours later, he was dead.

Back in September of 2023, I got a call from a dear friend who is also my Mortgage broker. My mortgage was not due for another year. But he called and told me I needed to jump on this opportunity, and we did. We got all of our debts paid and have just the mortgage to pay. And not even a month later, my wife lost her job. We are in a position where, if she wants, she does not have to go back to work, but she can take care of our younger daughter and the grandkids. God did that. He knew what was coming, and, in both cases, He got ahead of the problem or the situation and handled it. Why? Because He is our friend. He lives with us.

When we try to explain this to unbelievers, they scoff and can’t seem to comprehend it. There is no way to explain it; one has to live it and see God’s hand do things that you know you could not have done or even would not have done had it not been for His prompting. God, all too often, is seen as this distant deity that is aloof and unapproachable, even detached from our suffering, and, as such, offers no hope or help.

But that is not the truth; our God is the very opposite of that. By coming in limited flesh like we are, He understands the frailty we face each day, He understands temptation (though He never failed), and He understands what it is like to be hated for helping. He understands what it is like to be misunderstood and hated by your own family. God knows has become God experienced.

Unless these folks humble themselves and repent, they will never know what it is to have deep chats with God like Abraham did about justice in Genesis 18, or to have long drawn-out talks about the injustice of the world like Job. They will never ever know what it is like to throw your drained and empty self at God’s feet like Elijah, and to have him care for you. They will never know what it is like to hear God tell you to talk to someone about Him or to see Him move someone that you had given up on, but God!!

The same God that wanted to fellowship with Adam and Eve will make His home with you and me. I pray that on a daily basis you see the hand of God in your life, that you have long and intimate conversations with Him. Not just monologues; anyone can do that, but conversations where God, via the Holy Spirit and the Scripture, is answering you.

Sadly, all too many will never get there. They will deny Jesus, the Bible, and the truths therein. They will die and enter an eternal Hell they were sure did not exist, and the Bible they decried will go on selling more and more until Jesus comes.

So, do you have a relationship with Jesus? Has God come to make His home with you? Or are you simply doing religious rituals to try and earn His favor? Maybe you are reading this and you deny that Jesus is God, deny that the Bible is God’s inspired book. The Bible says that those who seek the Lord with a sincere heart will find Him.

Jeremiah 29:12-13, “Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

I challenge you to ask God to show Himself, and sincerely seek Him. He has been found by all who want to find Him. I heard a fellow say one time that atheists can’t find God for the same reason a thief can’t find a police officer; they don’t want to. Well, I beg you to want to for a little while and let God introduce Himself to you. Then you will see what we have been talking about and why it is hard for us not to talk about Him.

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Bethany Baptist Church
70 Victoria Street, Elora, Ontario

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