If, as a youngster, you were part of a religious organisation, you were taught the rules you needed to follow to ensure your continued acceptance by the organisation.
Understanding the laws and rules, while important, does not necessarily allow us to develop a close personal relationship with our God.
When you are attracted by someone and desire to have a close relationship, the last thing on your mind is how you might sit down and discuss the rules associated with relationships. Your only thought is to get to know as much about that person as you can.
As the relationship develops you may find you just want to be together, to share your stories and enjoy each other’s company. It is this way that a strong friendship often commences, love develops and long-time commitments to each other are made.
When we want to develop a close relationship with our God, we might follow a similar pattern. The first steps could be to learn as much as we can about this spiritual partner. As we come to a better understanding, we may find we have a deeper desire to want to strengthen our developing relationship.
Like any loving relationship, sometimes you can just be together where not a word is spoken and feel totally at peace and in love with each other. Similarly, being in a quiet place and knowing our God is with us can have the same affect.
I’m Peter Mack and that’s faith.