Exploring Faith: Unpacking God's Love and Our Chance for Redemption

Are you caught in a cycle of bad days, longing for a shot at redemption? Have you ever stopped to ponder the depth and implications of your relationship with the divine and holy God? Join me, Connie, the host of the Weeds Seeds and Beautiful Things Podcast, as we unpack the complexities of faith and our relationship with God. We delve into how even in our darkest moments, we are always embraced by God's eternal love, providing a hope that allows us to begin anew. Tune in as we explore our spiritual journey together, powered by the never-ending love of Jesus.

In this insightful conversation, we explore the differences between our human relationships and our relationship with God, arguing that we sometimes oversimplify this divine connection. I’ll touch on the concept of progressive salvation and the transformative power God's love possesses when we approach him in our brokenness. This episode will provide you with a fresh perspective on your relationship with God, driving spiritual growth and understanding. Embark on this enlightening journey with me, as I reveal how faith influences life and how God's love provides endless chances of redemption. Tune in to the weed seeds and beautiful things podcast, and fortify your relationship with God.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey friends, welcome to the weed seeds and beautiful things podcast. Are you having a bad day? Because she was, but with the grace of God, we can always start over, can't we? Even Jesus loves us and his love is unending, isn't it Eden? Yes, jesus loves you, just like he made a way in a provision for you. If you don't know Jesus, you're really missing out, aren't you? Yes, join me today as we continue to talk about faith. We're going to go deep and talk about all of the tricky issues surrounding faith, because it's been a real journey in battle and struggle for me and I want to share my progress with you. We're going to open God's Word where there is perpetual hope for our mess. Be sure to like, comment and subscribe to the weed seeds and beautiful things podcast and if you have a bad day, be sure to remember that God loves you and it's okay to start over, isn't it Eden? Right? We'll see you next time.

Speaker 1: 1:02

Hey friends, welcome to the weed seeds and beautiful things podcast. I'm your host, connie, and I am so glad you're here. I want to start today by letting you listen to a short commercial regarding something that I am super passionate about, and then we'll get on to the show. Are you looking for the perfect gift to celebrate a new child, wedding or anniversary? If you need a gift that will speak volumes to a friend or family member, or maybe even yourself, to celebrate a new addition to your family or any other memorable moments, I want to tell you about a special work that I offer. I make hand-painted calligraphy watercolor keepsake name prints to celebrate the birth, adoption or any other memorable moments in your life. This is also a wonderful and thoughtful option for those in your life or inner circle who have suffered from infant loss, infertility and miscarriage. This handmade keepsake will say all that's needed for a grieving friend or loved one, allowing you to just be present. Reach out to me on the web at wwwweedseedsbeautifulthingscom, where you can browse my work, set up a free consultation and read about my heart behind these pieces, or you can email me directly at weedseedsandbeautifulthingscom. Okay, well, be sure to let me know by reaching out on the web at wwwweedseedsbeautifulthingscom, if you or someone you know is interested in one of these unique and precious gifts.

Speaker 1: 2:47

So today on the show, I want to talk with you about our relationship with God, as I've been doing my Bible study, learning about how to be a well-watered woman. Through this book that Gretchen Saffols wrote, I have been pondering more and more and thinking deeply about what does it mean to have a relationship with God? And of course we know that it starts with salvation eternal salvation and then it moves into kind of replicating at least this is what I've always been taught. It kind of replicates a human relationship. You know you would do with God what you would do to another human that you're super close with, talk, share, show up, be real, be honest, you know, take instruction from all of those things. And that's good and that's true.

Speaker 1: 3:41

But the more that I've thought about it, the more I've thought that maybe we simplify the relationship with God a little too much. And by simplify I don't mean that it needs to be made difficult, like simplify as an easy and then we need to go the opposite direction, to make it hard. That's not what I mean. I'm more taking the approach that we equate the divine and supernatural relationship with God that he offers us when we get saved and we kind of dumb it down to being just simply what we would have with a human relationship, even if we are evaluating that human relationship and the best possible light, meaning oh, we're looking at our relationship with God like a best friend instead of just a you know oh, what's the word, I can't think of it A somebody you meet on the street, you know. So I think we dumb it down too much. I think that we don't realize the blessed, precious, endless eternal ramifications that a relationship with God actually provides us. Here's some thoughts that I have kind of come up with, the more that I've thought about the relationship with God that he offers us and my own personal watered-down view of what that looked like before I started digging into what it really means.

Speaker 1: 5:25

It's easy to assume that a relationship with God is just kind of the same principle as a relationship with a human, but I think it's so much more than that. Certainly now I do when we have a relationship with a human, even in our best-laid attempts to have there be openness and honesty, because you're dealing with two flawed, sinful human beings. Of course it can never be complete, but another thing is that a human relationship always leaves one empty, even in the ways that it leaves us filled. God wants us to have human relationships. He wants us to build those things. We need them. We're made for community, but I think we take this principle of believing that the emptiness that we have with relationships with people then translates over to a relationship with God. So if we are basing our relationship with God off of relationships with people, then we are believing subtly, most likely, that our relationship with God will leave us unfulfilled, because human relationships leave us unfulfilled, but a relationship with God the beauty in that is that is the perfect relationship, because it's a flawed human coming in connection and in contact, in close proximity with a perfect Creator, and that perfect Creator is able to meet all of your needs.

Speaker 1: 7:19

Also, another very big difference in the human relationship status and the relationship that God offers us is this aspect to be healed. And the more that I thought about it, the more I thought our relationship with Jesus after salvation. It's like salvation is the connecting point and then, after the connecting point, comes the fount of blessing that the relationship has to offer us. And part of that fount of blessing is that when we're saved, our eternal future is secure, but we are also allowed to then enter into progressive salvation. This looks a lot like progressive sanctification, but I'm viewing it as slightly different because sanctification is becoming more and more Christ-like. So progressively becoming more Christ-like.

Speaker 1: 8:27

But progressive salvation to me speaks of different areas of your broken and shattered life being healed and saved, redeemed, and not just for a temporal purpose, but ultimately, when we die or we are taken home, we will become the perfect version of ourself that God created us to be. So all of this work we've done on earth to be healed and to know God, that's going to travel with us into eternity. That's why what we do on this earth matters and that's why our faithfulness now bears weight on the eternal spectrum of time. So the relationship with Christ from the point of eternal salvation that secures our eternal destiny, then ushers us into being able to have progressive salvation, which is only available through our relationship with Christ. And now, how do we get that? Well, we get that, of course, by, yes, showing up in the relationship. But the difference is is when we show up in our relationship with Christ, we get to know Christ as we are willing to face the things we need to change.

Speaker 1: 9:42

So in a human-based relationship, you put your best face forward. You show up with everything that you have to offer in the relationship. That's the way you get a boyfriend or a girlfriend or, eventually, a husband or a wife. That's how you get a best friend. You are appealing, you play to what you have to offer rather than what is broken about you and your neediness and your holes and your fractures With God. It's the exact opposite. Our relational position with Him deepens as we are willing to come to Him broken, shattered, fractured, miserable, needy, because that is the position that we have to take to get to know Christ.

Speaker 1: 10:33

And the interesting thing is is number one we often don't do that, we never do that. And then, number two we can't get to know God, we can't be in deep, intimate relationship with Him If we don't come broken Because we are not on equal playing fields here. Humans were equal playing fields in the sense of we're two flawed individuals. So it's kind of like you show me yours, I'll show you mine, but it's in the positive context. But still, no permanent divine holes can be filled, no healing can take place, and I of course I am of course not saying that friendships don't have any healing properties or benefits or any good.

Speaker 1: 11:20

I'm talking about this on the eternal spiritual spectrum, that a relationship with God is very different and holds so much more weight than I think we are naturally aware of and we dumb down the relationship of God to strictly reading His Word and praying. Instead of understanding all of these amazing benefits that we have offered to us through relationship with Jesus Christ and this is one of the big ones is we go into relationship with people, putting our best face forward, our best foot forward. Whatever you want to say about that, with God it's the opposite. We need to understand that, because he is perfect and because he is all knowing, and because he is everywhere, sovereign ruler over everything, and because we are broken, fractured people, that when we come and we offer that brokenness, that's how we get to know God and in our knowing of God, we get healed, because you simply cannot be in the presence of perfection. Brokenness cannot sit before the feet of perfection in humility and honesty and not be healed. That is the God that we serve and that is what relationship with Christ offers us. It offers us eternal security, but it also offers us progressive salvation and then, as we are progressively saved, the broken parts of our fractured selves being put back together, then we are offered progressive sanctification. We can then grow in maturity in the areas that he has brought healing.

Speaker 1: 13:14

This, to me, was so life-giving and it was refreshing to see how very different my relationship with God is, and is meant to be, than my relationship with people. My relationship with people serve a purpose and it's precious and it's a gift from God. But only God is the completer of all of my needs, the author and the finisher of my faith, and he can be that for you. He is that for you. He wants you to come in your brokenness, because brokenness that is laid bare and humbly sits at the feet of perfection will be healed. The beauty of a relationship with Christ is that we can't come as we are. That is how we have to come any other way and we are forfeiting and accepting sloppy seconds as our relationship with Christ. The beauty and the perfection is only seen when and as we are willing to face the things that we need to change.

Speaker 1: 14:33

I hope that this encourages you. I hope you share this episode with your family and friends. Be sure to reach out to me on the web if you know a guest, want to be a guest or want me to be a guest on your podcast. Also, you can find the art. Sign up for the newsletter. Never spam me, and we offer you free, downloadable giveaways that are amazing that you can often use, so just be sure to join the community. Find me on Facebook, instagram and Pinterest at weedseedsandbeautifulthings, and on the web at wwwweedseedsbeautifulthingscom. I'll see you next time.