A man came up to me over the weekend and said, “God and I are good buddies.”
I think I said something like, “uh-huh.” Then I just waited to see what he was going to say next.
Honestly, I was not sure what he was trying to express to me. Was he serious? Was he trying to pick a fight? What was the point he was trying to make?
Do you think God is your “good buddy”? Surely not.
Finally, he just walked away.
The Bible gives us a variety of names for God. “Good buddy” is not among the list.
Was this man trying to tell me he had some special relationship to God? 1 Peter tells us that God is no respecter of persons.
Was he trying to say that he was on some level close to God?
Isaiah tells us how undone we really are without a Savor.
And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
Isaiah 6:3-7
Was that man trying to say that he was in some special partnership with God, or that he had earned some honor?
When James and John’s mother asked favor for her children, it was not granted.
Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.
Matthew 20:20-23
LIFE APPLICATION
Key Focal Verse:
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
1 Peter 5:6-7
Today’s challenge is to remember that God is God the creator. We are the creation. We are not “good buddies.” God is our Father. God is holy. We fall way short. Only through Jesus are we able to set foot into heaven.