Relationships are built over time and yet can be destroyed in seconds. It all depends on the foundation. In this episode, Felice Gerwitz shares how our relationship with the Lord can endure and carry us through our most difficult times to victory, in Jesus!

Relationships matter, whether with someone you love, someone you like, or someone you don’t like but need to get along with at work or school. Relationships are the very fabric of human culture, and our relationship with God is the main theme that runs through the Old and New Testaments. Our pastor likes to discuss relationships when he talks about scripture, and in fact, he has preached on the topic in sermon after sermon, pointing to the first sin (Adam and Eve and their disobedience in the garden (Genesis 3) and how sin is a break in their relationship. In regard to Adam and Eve their breach of relationship with the creator, God. The same with all of the human race afterward.

The cause of the brokenness led the people of God to rebel time after time after time. For the last two years, I’ve been studying the Bible, and I become weary, to say the least, when I have to listen to the whining of the Israelites in the desert or the distress of Moses when, once again, the people turn back to their false gods. Yet, it is a reminder to us all that restoring relationships between a nation of people, and God is symbolic of our relationship with the Almighty.

Yet, time and time again, after the rebellion, God still calls for us to return. In Isaiah 65:17-21 we read:

If you are familiar with the Bible, those verses are familiar to you; if not, spend some time with the Bible and look them up, study them, and apply them not only to the people for whom they were written at the time, yes– but it was written for us today. God is promising us a new Jerusalem, and He sent his son, Jesus, to us in order to live, teach, and sacrifice so that this could happen. We have a new life with Jesus; we have a new life for eternity.

We cling to this life, we all do. We know this world and even with all of its flaws and the trials we face daily, we don’t want to leave anytime soon. Yet, Jesus, in His entire work on earth, continued to call us to open His arms wide and to reclaim and restore the people. The New Jerusalem is Christ, He is the fulfillment of the Scriptures, and he is the fruit of our faith and hearlds the new heaven on earth. He proclaimed the Kingdom of God is at Hand! That saying stumped me because I was looking too deeply instead of seeing it for what it was, Jesus, the Kingdom fulfilled and at hand.

The proclamation of the Kingdom of God is the news that Jesus Christ, true man, and true God– Jesus is the fulfillment of prophecy. Just as Jesus served the disciples by washing their feet and serving them bread and wine at the Last Supper, for us these signs point to a deeper truth. Jesus himself is the bread and wine, he asked of us to eat of the flesh and drink of the blood. For some the saying was too harsh.

Read all of John Chapter 6 but an excerpt is here, John 6:53-59

The teaching was too hard for many. Is it too hard for you and for me? The apostles were stumped, but not Peter. The same Peter who would later deny Jesus three times. John 6:66-68

How do we feel about these verses? Do we wish to go away like so many did? It always struck me that Jesus didn’t call them back, He didn’t say, “Wait! I was talking symbolically.” It was problematic for many at the time and for many today.

Do we truly believe that Jesus wants to restore us, to restore our relationship with Him? Perhaps your church celebrates the Last Supper symbolically by sharing bread and wine. My church celebrates the Last Supper in communion each time we attend Mass. We truly believe the words of Christ. Literally.

In communion, we are united with Jesus in a deeper way; we strive to live lives with God’s grace that are pleasing to Him. The King of kings and the Lord of lords. He is truly the Messiah. When we approach the altar, we bring Him our worries, our concerns, our problems, our failures, and our joys. We lay them there at the foot of the cross. Jesus died once and for all. We do this as he said, In remembrance of me.” With God, there is no time. He is with us always in the present. Mind-blowing, I know!

Take the idea of a relationship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit to heart. Bring your concerns to Him, the Almighty, He is waiting to restore you and to bring you with Him into everlasting life at the end of your life. If you have time compose a prayer to the Lord, and pray it daily. Ask Him to bring you into a deeper relationship with Him and start today!

The post Restoring Relationships appeared first on Ultimate Christian Podcast Radio Network.