Read Zechariah Chapter 1
I Want A Relationship With You. I Love You!
The rebuilding of the Temple of the Lord is underway and God speaks to the prophet Zachariah calling for his people to repent of their sins. The Lord says, “I was very angry with your fathers because they did not repent. Return to me, so that I may return to you.”
God doesn’t Force his way into an unwanted relationship. He longs for a mutual loving relationship where he loves us with a love no one can match, and we love him greater than we love anything or anyone else. But if we walk in disobedience to his words, he loves us, but he’s desiring a reciprocating relationship where we love him, pursue him, and draw near to him in his word, in prayer, In Worship and adoration, through the fellowship of his people. But he hurts when we reject him as our first love.
Think of your best friend and how you love and care SO MUCH for each other. You do everything together. You’re inseparable. But then something horrible happens. Your best friend is distracted by other pleasures in this world to the point where they ignore you and want nothing to do with you. You reach out to them and you get nothing. You long for that friendship but it’s not reciprocated. You draw near to them only to be rejected. What can you do? Nothing! You pray and pray but it isn’t until your friend comes to their senses and remembers and longs for that love relationship you both once had. Think about all the daily emotions you went through when that friendship was non-existent. Think of the pain and the tears! Now think about your relationship with Jesus. How does he feel if our relationship is broken? He longs for a relationship with us. What and with whom is your first love? God says that he “is exceedingly jealous for his people”, and He is angry because they’re living in rebellion.
It isn’t until your best friend returns to you that you can fully return to them. The Lord said in James 4:7-8, “draw near to me then I will draw near to you.” There’s no relationship until it works both ways.
I pray that there’s nothing in this world that takes the place of your love for God and your commitment. Nothing!
What’s neat is when we make Christ our number one love, it’s then that we learn how to love others with the same Love that Christ loved us. It’s then that our relationships develop because it’s not done out of a selfish love directed by our flesh, but it’s a love directed by the spirit of the Living God.
