God is Not your Neighbour

John 14:15-16
15"If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

As I was reading Drawing Near by John Bevere the other day, Holy Spirit spoke some very strong words to me. He said “Don’t you know that I live with you (and in you)? So why are you treating me like your neighbour?”

Wow. I was shocked. I had never thought of it this way. I suppose with all the talk of our body being the ‘house’ our spirits lived in, God used that as analogy of my relationship with him. Basically, God is with me and lives in me through Holy Spirit. His spirit dwells within my ‘house’ as well as my own spirit.

When you consider your own house and the people who live in it (if you live with people), you recognize that there is definitely a level of relationship there that is not had with others. You see them everyday, you eat with them, you talk with them, if married you sleep with them and you basically commune with them. With your neighbours, it’s not quite the same. You see them once in a while and will maybe say hi. You may be closer to your neighbours and have them over for dinner once in a while or go out with them once in a while but it’s just not the same. Another thing neighbours are also used for are for “getting things”. People typically interact with their neighbours in order to borrow something (i.e. sugar, milk, a shovel, a hand with moving, etc).

God was essentially reminding me that He wants a true, genuine, live-in relationship with me. He wants to talk with me, He wants to be involved in the planning of my days and life, He wants to be with me when I eat, sleep, hang out with friends, even at school. He does not want me to treat Him like a neighbour; saying hello to him once in a while (i.e. irregular prayer), brief and periodic meetings with him (i.e. spending time with Him only at church) and only going to Him for requests. I’m not saying that God doesn’t want to bless me (or anyone else for that matter) and more often than not He comes through for us, but it seems unfair to ignore him throughout the week and then when a crisis hits, run straight to God.

Exodus 34:14 says “…for the Lord, whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about his relationship with you”. God wants a relationship, not just a business agreement. We need to seek after Him and pant after Him like a deer would pant after water (Ps. 42:1).

Jeremiah 29:13
If you look for me in earnest, you will find me when you seek me.