“How Important Is It to Enjoy God?”

Let me take a few moments and tell you about a young lady who was a bit weird and created an incredibly awkward moment for a lot of people.

Years ago, she started doing some things for a single guy for motives that are not apparently clear. I think she might have liked the guy and wanted to win his heart. She periodically showed up to his house to mow his lawn, rake his yard, take out his garbage, and other such things. This list of activities was pretty impressive.

As I talked to the young man, he confided in me that he had tried to discourage all of this activity repeatedly, but the young lady wouldn’t speak with him. He often tried to contact her, but she never answered the phone. Honestly, he was confused. She wasn’t responsive to even a mere friendship with him, and yet she kept doing all of those things for him. He told me he felt like he was in the Twilight Zone.

Well, the day came for the young man to marry his fiance, a lady he loved and had dated for a couple of years. As he stood at the front of the aisle waiting for his bride to join him next to the minister, his mouth dropped. The lady who had been mowing his lawn, who never returned his calls, was dressed in white and walking toward him.

This wasn’t the woman he loved! He didn’t even know her! How dare she think that she could take the place of his bride.

As she reached the front of the sanctuary, the young man said: “What are you doing here?! You aren’t the one I’m going to marry!”

She said: “I know we never cultivated a relationship, but I did all sorts of things for you. I have a right to marry you.”

He replied: “Get out of here. What you did doesn’t matter at this point. We never had any sort of relationship. Honestly, I don’t even know you!”

Matthew 7:22-23 (CSB): “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?’ Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!’”

Friend, if your “salvation” is devoid of any relationship with Jesus, you are that young woman. The Gospel isn’t ultimately a “get-out-of-Hell-free” card. Instead, it is primarily an invitation into the divine relationship, a relationship that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have enjoyed with each other throughout all eternity.

Jesus once clarified what it means to be saved.

John 17:3 (CSB): “This is eternal life: that they may know (Greek: “relational knowledge”) you, the only true God, and the one you have sent—Jesus Christ.”

Friend, all you need to do to enter this relationship is to stop trusting in yourself to get on good terms with God. Instead, acknowledge that you have broken God’s laws, and you stand guilty before Him. Then, look by faith to Jesus, who died on the cross to pay your sin debt. Transfer your trust from yourself to Him. Turn from sin and self-rule (repent) and trust in Jesus to pay your sin debt. 

Then, as you are given the gift of eternal life, embark on a soul-satisfying relationship of knowing and enjoying the God to made you and saved you. As enjoyable as it can be here on earth, it gets infinitely better when we step through death’s door into our Heavenly home where we get to enjoy Him forever.

I will conclude with the first question and answer of the Westminster Catechism. I LOVE it!

Question: “What is the chief end of man?” (Essentially, what are we ultimately supposed to be doing?)

Answer: “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”