Hope-Filled Christian
Hope-Filled Christian
Exploring Our Relationship with God: A Reflection on Zephaniah 3:17
Ever thought about the nature of your relationship with God? We often get so caught up in the obligations of being a Christian, that we lose sight of the essence of that bond. This episode uncovers a journey of self-discovery, fueled by a heartfelt reflection on Zephaniah 3:17. We unveil the profound meaning of this verse, and how it serves as a gentle reminder of God’s unwavering love for us.
Join us, as we shed light on the struggle to comprehend what God expects from us. We discuss how easy it is to misinterpret this spiritual relationship as transactional, rather than embracing it as a bond built on pure love and a sincere yearning to be with Him. Focused on the verse from Zephaniah, we explore the importance of not letting our life's tribulations blur our vision of who God truly is. Tune in to this heartfelt episode of HFC as we navigate the depths of our faith and reconnect with the divine essence of God.
Hi, welcome back to HFC. Sorry for being gone for so long. I've kind of been really sick. I don't know what I had, but it was not fun. And even now I'm still kind of getting over it. I don't know if you can tell, but I feel like I sound a little nasally and a couple times throughout the day it was like annoying me to talk because the back of my throat feels clogged or something. I don't know, tmi. Anyway, glad to be back. I'm glad you're back. Glad you're listening.
Speaker 1:The verse that I want to read today is Zephaniah, chapter 3, verse 17. It says the Lord, your God, is with you, the mighty warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you, in his love. He will no longer rebuke you but rejoice over you with singing. I didn't necessarily go out of my way to choose this verse, but I feel like I've been kind of trying to see what God wants of me and God wants of me and God wants of me, and like what it means for me to be a Christian that sometimes I forget and maybe you do too that it's important not only to look at what God wants of you, but also just to look at God when we look at so much about what the requirements are and what we're supposed to be doing, and we take our eyes off of God and who he is. We're so focused on the situation of whether or not we can achieve or do that we begin to kind of slip because we're not reminding ourselves who God is. And I think it's this idea that we think we can pick and choose what verses we want to read, if there were only certain verses that were good and, granted, there are certain verses for certain situations. But to focus solely on this is what I'm meant to be, this is what I'm meant to do, and not to read the other parts where it's like God is this, god is that God is doing this, or vice versa, to focus only on what God is doing and not realizing that we have a part too. That's where we get to, or where we start to get into issues and realize that we should take the Bible as a whole and not in parts or pieces.
Speaker 1:And maybe I've been making issues of choosing verses and then really I should just be taking it's, you know, verse by verse, whatever verse I come upon, focus on that and just talk about it, and maybe that's a better outlook on it and that would probably take off a lot of the need where I feel like, oh, I have to say something like super important and I realize that all of it's important, like all of it is meaningful. Anyway, I just really like this. First, because I feel like lately I've been so stuck on focusing on the situation and what's going on and I'm like worried. I'm like God, like what am I supposed to do? Or I'm feeling sick and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:And it's good to just, you know, read the verse and focus on not on the situation, not on what's going on, not on who I am, not on what you know I'm going through, but focus on God. Lord, your God, is with you, the mighty warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you and his love. He will no longer rebuke you but will rejoice over you with singing and when. I can meditate on that word and realize that it's not a God who is judging me or whatever. It's not a God who is just nonchalant, who's just like, okay, I'm waiting for my sacrifice, I'm waiting for my. You know my penance, my prayers speak like you know, show how devoted you are to me, but it's a God who genuinely loves us, the God who is with us through everything, God who loves, who will save. Just reminding ourselves that God isn't like, I guess what other gods are like. We have the sacrifice loved ones, we have the, you know, blood, sacrifices and rituals and all this stuff, but instead realize that it's a living God, a God that wants and desires a relationship, and when we focus on that, it starts to lighten things. There's really nothing beyond that, but I do think it's important just for you to remember that, like don't lose sight of who God is, don't get so focused on the requirements and like what you think God is requiring of you, what God's wanting from you, you don't even remember who God is and what he's done for you, and don't think of it as like a, because I feel like sometimes I get stuck into that idea of almost feeling guilty and doing things out of guilt, because I feel like I should be doing something, because God has done all the stuff for me and it's you're not doing it in the right heart. God didn't do something for you in order for you to feel like you needed to or you had to do something. He did it out of love and in the same way, we should do it out of love. We shouldn't be doing things out of oh well, god did this or God did that, and so I have to do this as well.
Speaker 1:I think I really wish I knew a verse but I know verses that talk about that like they talk about us loving one another as God loved us, but I guess, in the same way loving God as he loves us, not because you know he's done stuff for us and we feel like indebted or something, but loving him solely for the fact that we desire to be with him, like I don't know how to explain it, like I don't love my mom or my dad because they do things for me. I just love them. Loving him in that way, not because there's some obligation or we feel indebted or you know, like we're paying something back. Oh, I have to show God love. Oh, I have to go do this because you know he's done that for me, because that's not love, that's transaction. We need a relationship where we love someone not because of what they can do for us or what they've done for us, but just because we love them, and I guess that's what I feel this verse is saying to me like I'm imagining a god who is similar to, like your parents, where you had a rough day or something and you're coming to visit them, or you're seeing them or something, or your grandparents, and they don't expect you to bring anything, they don't expect you to have anything, they're just in.
Speaker 1:They're just enjoy your, your presence, they enjoy you visiting them, they enjoy you being there and, in the same way, you don't necessarily expect them to oh, mom, dad, grandparents, where's my money? Oh, mom, dad, grandparents, where's my this or that? You're just happy to be there. You're, you're loved and you feel loved and that's enough for you. And and sometimes I think we forget that we forget that this isn't a transaction, this isn't a oh, oh God, did you know I'm needing God to help me with this or God helped me with that? So now I need to go read my Bible for 30 minutes every single day until you know, I feel like I've paid God back, like, so we just spend time with him, not because we're indebted which I mean we are, but that's not why we do it. We do it because we love them and I Guess, for those of you that are parents, you obviously know that more like your child.
Speaker 1:Has it done anything for you? I Don't mean that like that I'm probably wording that funny but they have it. You're not in some great debt to your child and yet you still love them. You want to take care of them, you feed them, you clothe them. You, even when they're jerks, are there being mean to you? You still love them and vice versa. Like you know, your parents don't necessarily have to do anything for you, you just love them. And then you know there's no way that you could pay them back, and so you don't spend the entirety of your life trying to pay your parents back. I'm not saying you don't do nice things for them, but you're not like, oh yeah, this is a transaction. Like, oh, we're good. Now you know you paid for closing all that stuff. I bought you a house, we're good. Sorry bye, we're done. And that's not how it works.
Speaker 1:But somehow I feel like that gets mixed up because I Think we forget that when it comes to God that I Don't know, I just this, reading this verse, creates like this, really, really I don't know if it's wrong to call God cute, but like this really cute image of God, just like I Don't know, I'm imagining like a picnic and he's just like smiling because we've arrived stuff. They're just sitting there and watching him play with like your family or something. I don't, I don't know what explain it. I'm just imagining God as a friend, as you know, a father, not as a Distant being, a distant something or other that does things for us. I guess in my head I'm like God's not like a sugar daddy or something. He's not passing stuff off, so, oh yeah, I'll placate him by sending some, some stuff that'll keep him giving us money and giving us blessings. He's a father he is. You know we are loved ones to him. I just, you know it's not that like sugar daddy transaction. Oh, he gave me money, he gave me blessings to let me like Send him stuff to keep him in ties, like that's not what this is. Don't I Don't know the word don't pervert this relationship, this beautiful possibility, my only Treating as a digit, as a transaction, by only doing things because you're like, oh well, I want this, so I better start, you know, praying. Let me pay off my blessing with some prayer, with some reading the Bible, spending some time with you, and then the moment it's over, like you're just gone, like you dipped Like that's, that's, that's such a I don't know. That's just disgusting, and yet we do it all the time. Anyway, um, as always, let's go ahead and just pray.
Speaker 1:Dear God, first off, thank you for bringing us through this week. Sadly, not everyone can say that. Thank you for loving us. Thank you for being more than just a donator or investor. You are someone who loves and knows every part of us. Help us to remember that. Help us to see you not as you know, this kind of thing that we can't attach to, or this being that doesn't exist, or this being that's super distant, but as a father, as someone that we can connect to, we can relate to, not someone we have to pay back, but someone we love because we desire to. I don't think you ever desired for us to love you out of obligation, because if you did, you could have just commanded it, you could have forced us. If you wanted us to love you out of obligation, then you would have done it years ago. Help us to remember that this isn't loving out of obligation. This is loving out of free will, loving because you love us, loving because we love you. Just help us to understand that, to grasp that concept and get a deeper understanding of what it means, or forgive us of our sins. Latest non-intentation. In the name of Jesus, amen.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to this week's episode of HFC. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope I didn't come across as too confusing. All I'm trying to say is just if you're loving God because you feel like you have to, then you need to reassess what you're doing, because that is not what love is. If that's how you're treating your relationships in real life, then ask God for some understanding of what love is, because that's not it. Take a look at some of those verses about love in the Bible. Anyway, have a God best week. Thanks for listening, see ya.