Postkiwi

Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you.
James 4:8 (New Living Translation)

Rick Warren gives us a few more pointers for growing our friendship with God today.
If I want a deeper, more intimate connection with God:

I must choose to be honest with God.
I like the line: “What appears as aduacity, God views as authenticity. God listens to the passionate words of his friends; he is bored with predictable, pious cliches.”

The psalms are full of honest outpourings of faith and doubt, praise and complaint. Its a model I appreciate. Though of course its hard to do it in public without affecting other people.

I must choose to obey God in faith.
Rick points out that progress in friendship with God is linked closely to doing something about what God says. Ties right in with what Jesus says about hearing his words and acting on them.

I must choose to value what God values.
Rick links this with a passion for people - evangelism etc. That’s certainly a part of God’s values. And there’s much more…

I must desire friendship with God more than anything else.
Rick points to the passion of David, Jacob, Paul. Its no coincidence that these three guys had their share of pain in their lives. Rick says not to be surprised when God allows pain in our lives, quoting C.S. Lewis, “Pain is God’s megaphone.” I believe that pain is not a personal jab from God. It’s part of being human. But I believe that God can bring us closer - or that we’re sometimes more motivated to seek God when we’re in pain. Unless of course that pain is so overpowering we lose the capacity to be aware of anything beyond the pain itself.

In summary, Rick is reminding me that friendship with God is stimulated by my choices. I am choosing to share faith and pray with people regularly as a way of growing friendship with God.