Photo by Hugues de BUYER-MIMEURE on Unsplash
Not too long ago, I came across a powerful video that illustrated the kind of relationship that God wants to have with us. In my own words I want share a slightly different version of video, and discuss briefly what God wants in a relationship with us.
Imagine if you will, the following scene.
Alex and Camille are celebrating their one year anniversary; they have chosen a restaurant, gotten all dressed up, and Camille is even having a good hair day.
They arrive at the restaurant and after a short wait, they are escorted to their table. The waiter promptly makes his way to the table to receive their drink requests. He steps away to retrieve the drinks, while Alex and Camille make small talk and reminiscing about their first year of marriage. The two of them were caught up in a moment of laughter when the waiter returned with their drinks.
After some polite conversation, the waiter asks if he can take their order. Alex defers to Camille and she places her order. Alex then orders the prime rib, with a baked potato and broccoli. “Excellent choice sir,” replies the waiter. Also, if you could bring a Caesar salad with grilled chicken, a lobster tail with a side salad, and a grilled chicken breast with asparagus and a sweet potato. “We can certainly do that,” said the waiter. He asked if they were ready for refills and then left to place their order.
Camille had seen Alex eat a hole pizza once, but she was in shock with all the food he had just ordered. “How are you going to eat all that food,” she asked in amazement. “Oh, that’s not all for me,” Alex replied as he stood up. “Good, here she is now.”
Alex waived across the room to get someone’s attention. Camille was perplexed. She had no idea what was going on. She wondered who was here.
“Honey, I want to introduce to you to Kristie. She was my high school sweetheart when I graduated. We were sure that we were going to get married, but our plans took us in different directions, but she has always had a special place in my heart.
Camille could not believe what she was hearing. “That’s all well and good, but why is she here tonight?” “I just thought it would be nice if she was here to celebrate our special day with us.”
Alex stood up again and waived across the room. “Great! They both made it.”
“Who made it?”
“Sheila, and Becky.”
“Who are Sheila and Becky?”
“Here we go. You all can sit right here.”
“Honey, this is Becky,” as he pointed to the lady that stood to his right. “We lived in the house right across the street from me when I was growing up. We dated a little in middle school, and we have remained friends all these years.”
“This is Sheila,” as he pointed to the lady on his left. “We had an on again off again relationship all through middle school, high school, and through some of my college years. Whenever things got too serious, one of us would break things off. We eventually realized we were not meant to be lifelong partners, so we decided to just go it as friends.”
“I’m so glad all of you could make it tonight. This is such a special evening for Camille and myself.”
As Alex turned back to Camille, it was obvious that she was not pleased with the situation.
Let me stop the story right there. If you are like most normal people, you gasped as I introduced the first of the three extra women into the scene. We can look into that situation and wonder why Alex did not take a beating before the first woman ever had a chance to take a place at the table.
I want to suggest to you that this is how God sometimes feels with us. He feels as if He is competing with other things and other people in His relationship with you. This is not the kind of relationship that God wants with you. God does not want to be first among your relationships. He wants an exclusive relationship with you that is unique and not in competition with any other relationships you might have. Whether it is with people, work, hobbies, ministry, family, etc.
It is easy to see why Camille should be offended by how she was treated. We expect the marriage relationship to be special and unique, where two people give themselves to one another, differently than they do to anyone else, in any other relationship. A husband or wife should never have to compete within the boundaries of that relationship.
The same is true in your relationship with your heavenly father.
