Be Wary of Familiarity

Familiarity with a person, especially your spouse, can be dangerous.  It's dangerous because we get lazy in our relationship with this person.  We stop listening intently to what the other person is saying because we assume we know what he/she will say.  While we may be right most times there are two big problems with this approach.

The first is that we should be constantly striving for better communication.  If we get lazy there is a good chance that the margin of error will slowly increase.  Not to mention it will cause consternation for the other person.  

The second is that we stop trying to get to know the other person.  This has two negative aspects.  First we miss out on learning new stuff about this person.  The second is that we can become arrogant assuming that we know what the other person wants in any given situation and we stop asking the person what they want.  As a result, when he/she rejects the decision, or even gift, another rift is formed in the relationship with both finding wrong in the other.

However, this is not true only of human relationships, but it is also true when it comes to our relationship with God.  Case in point, I lead a small group of men in Bible study on Thursday nights.  We recently started going through the Gospel of Mark.  We got to 2:1-12 the story of the man paralyzed and lowered through the roof by his friends and healed by Jesus.  It's easy to almost skip the story assuming you know what it is about.  I was tempted to skip my study on this passage and wing it because I have heard this story since I was a child.  I'm sure glad I didn't, because God taught me things that I had never noticed before.

Here are just a few bullet points of what He taught me:

1. The paralyzed man and his friends were looking for physical healing. Jesus was concerned with spiritual healing.  Initially all he does is forgive the man his sins.  He does not heal him.
2. The Pharisees where indignant towards Jesus for doing what they though only God could do.  (Indeed God is the only One who can truly pardon our wrongs.  However, He does call us to forgive one another repeatedly...even the sin of familiarity.) 
3. The reason that he healed the paralytic was so that the people there would know that He had authority to forgive sins.
4. This paralyzed man received a blessing from God beyond forgiveness.  This blessing was to reveal Gods glory to everyone who was watching.  It was primarily for the benefit of the people watching and secondarily for the man who experienced the healing.

However, this is not out of the norm in scripture.  Recently, I have been trying to escape being overly familiar with God and seeking Him out in new ways.  As a result,  I spent the last month and half going through the book of Ezekiel for my devotions.  God flat out states this in the passage below.

Ezekiel 36:23 (ESV)  And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.

In the verses that follow God explains how He is going to restore the nation.  However in verse 32 He reminds the people that it is not for their sake that He is restoring them.  Instead, it is because He is concerned with His glory primarily.  His secondary reason is so that the nations will know that He is the one true God.

Ezekiel 36:32   It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.

Both accounts teach us the same thing.

1. The greatest blessing an individual can receive is forgiveness of sins.  
2. If God decides to bless us beyond this than we should ask what is the reason that God has chosen to bless me.  Is it primarily a loving gift from Father to child, or is meant to bring glory and lead people to Him?  If it is the latter than we should ask how we can join Him where He is working.

So if you have become familiar in your relationship with your parent, spouse, or child please take time to sit down and listen to them.  Ask them what they want to do sometime and do it with them.

If you have gotten a little to familiar in your relationship with God I encourage you to listen to Him and seek Him out in a place you haven't in a long time.  That might be extended periods of prayer, on a personal retreat, a new devotional, or a book of the Bible you haven't read in a very long time.

God has blessed me greatly as I have gone through the book of Ezekiel, which I ignored for a long time, I hope that He uses this to bless you also!