Jesus told a beautiful parable to His followers to help them understand that God is more important than everything else on this earth:
15 Then Jesus said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:15 – 21, Bible)
Real life does not consist in the abundance of our wealth and possessions. It is not about how rich we are, how many friends we have, our social status, what car we own, the good clothes we wear, how famous we are or anything of that sort. All of this will pass away once we die. These all may be needed for this life but there is something more important – something that lasts for eternity: A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD.
Yes, we can love God and have a deep relationship with Him because He is a person. He is not just a spirit, a power, a supreme being or just a consciousness. Most of us think and believe that God is very impersonal and just like to use Him for our benefits and then we keep Him aside! A Relationship with God does not mean just praying a few prayers ritualistically or asking a few things from God. That’s just a shallow relationship in which we are using Him. True life consists of a rich relationship with God. A true and deep relationship with God is about loving Him and talking to Him and doing everything in life His way.
If God requires your soul tonight are you ready to meet Him? If this were the last day of your life, are you prepared for what’s beyond? Or are you like the rich man in the parable above: pursuing riches, name, fame, prestige, wealth and security in this life so hard that you’ve lost sight of the fact that what is most important in life is your relationship with God? Are you trying to gather more and more into your bank account so you can be secure in your life or because you can boast before men or so that you can improve your social status? Are you trying each day harder so you can add more possessions to your life? Are you trying to save up much so you can after a few years say, ‘Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!’? Are you pursuing this life so hard that you’ve forgotten God? Maybe you’ve not forgotten Him, but you just don’t have enough time for Him, to talk to Him to love Him. May be you just want God to bless you, protect you and your family but would not want anything more to do with God. You don’t want to get serious with God!
You say, ‘Well, I’m too young right now, I’ve got many years ahead of me to think of those things. For now let me just enjoy life and have ‘fun’. How sure can you be of your life? Life is like a breath that passes away. So, don’t wait for another day to settle this issue. Deal with this truth and settle it NOW.
A real and deep relationship with God the Father is possible through Jesus Christ. The whole reason Jesus came into the world was to restore our relationship with God – to unite us back to God. He came to unite us back to the heart of God. He came into the world 2000 years ago as a man to show us how much he loves us and how precious we are to Him. He taught us to call God as Father. When we start understanding God as our Father and start relating to him as a son / daughter and commune with Him and love Him then our relationship with Him becomes rich.
We need to understand that Jesus shed every drop of His blood and died for us that all our sins may be forgiven. He did this only because He really loves you and me. Otherwise, why would anyone sacrifice his life for us who don’t deserve it? When we acknowledge that we are sinners, confess our sins and ask for the forgiveness of our sin the blood of Jesus washes away all our sin and we are restored to our relationship with God. Jesus also rose from the dead on the third day after His death to give us new life, to prove that He indeed was God and to let us know that death is not the end but the beginning of eternal life with him in heaven. All we need to do now is to repent of all our sins and evil ways, believe in Him and make Him the centre of our lives.
When you understand this great love He has for you, you will begin to have a rich relationship with Him; being with God, talking to Him and doing what He tells you will be the greatest joy of your life even in the midst of difficulties.
The one who understands this and has a rich relationship with Him will enjoy life to its fullest and will be ready to meet Him even if this were the very last day of his life.
