Christian Living
February 14, 2012 – A Relationship Like No Other
24 And Enoch walked [in habitual fellowship] with God; and he was not, for God took him [home with Him]. – Genesis 5:24 AMP
Enoch was one of two people in the Bible who never died (Elijah was the other). His father Jared lived to the ripe old age of 962. Enoch’s son, Methuselah, earned the distinction of being the oldest man ever, living 969 years. Enoch was taken to heaven by God at the precocious age of 365. Why did God take him to heaven? God took him because His relationship with Enoch was unlike any other, and modern day Christianity seems to have missed a lesson on this account of relationships from ages past.
The stereotypical church today uses the catch phrase it’s not about religion; it’s about relationship to bring in unbelievers by droves. And this is exactly what Christianity is about: religion should never be a part of the life of a Christian. But there is a major problem. The majority of these churches have so many ministries, small groups, and community outreaches that the relationships sought by church members are relationships with each other rather than a relationship with God. Now don’t misunderstand me here. I am not saying that having relationships with other Christians is ungodly, because it’s not. It’s Biblical to have relationships with other believers. But churches have failed in their approach. They are so busy promoting and sometimes even forcing personal relationships that God is left on the backburner or not even brought into their equation except when they pray together.
I cannot explain why churches do such things. Sure, I could spend hours getting my thoughts together and even blog about all my theories for probably up to two weeks straight. But the more I think about churches and about them using relationships in this misleading way, I find myself thinking about Enoch. Enoch was the exact opposite of these relationship based churches. And the key to his closeness with God are found in two words from today’s verse: habitual fellowship.
Enoch walked in habitual fellowship with God. How many Christians today can say that? Most of the time the only thing believers do nowadays habitually is open their lives to the world. Often when people return home from work the first thing they do is turn on the television. Smokers call what they do a bad habit. Things we do every day, like driving home from work using the same route day in and out, become habitual. But very rarely do most people make a habit of spending time with God. Enoch’s habitual fellowship with God earned him an honor on the faith hall of fame in the Book of Hebrews.
5 Because of faith Enoch was caught up and transferred to heaven, so that he did not have a glimpse of death; and he was not found, because God had translated him. For even before he was taken to heaven, he received testimony [still on record] that he had pleased and been satisfactory to God. – Hebrews 11:5 AMP
Enoch’s habitual fellowship pleased God. It pleased Him so much that Enoch did not even get so much as a glimpse of death. But Christians miss Enoch’s example. They get so busy with all of their church stuff that their church becomes habitual. They make a habit of attending their small group, when God simply wants a one-on-one meeting with Him first. Enoch understood that, and it’s time for believers to get it as well.
Now I’m not saying that if we all make amends and make our fellowship with God habitual that we won’t die. Enoch lived in a time when Jesus had yet to come, and all dead souls went to Hades to lie in wait (Luke 16) until Jesus was able to take the righteous ones away to heaven with Him (Psalm 68:18). Enoch never went to such a place. He didn’t have to wait to see God. Now today we afforded this same ability to see God at our death through a relationship with Jesus. But let’s be honest. How many of us actually fear death? Sure, we could all be super spiritual and claim that we have Jesus and there is no need to fear. At the same time we see stories on the news daily about people dying in automobile accidents and even know of people filling rest homes slowly deteriorating away over several years. We don’t want to experience anything like that. But consider this. If you had that habitual walk with God like Enoch had, and had lived a long and full life, would you fear death, or would you see it as an opportunity to be with face to face with the God you had spent so much time with?
The truth is that there is no magic formula for drawing closer to God. I do know this: you cannot look for relationships in Christian circles and expect to draw closer to God. You must seek Him yourself, by yourself, for yourself. No church in existence can or will be able to teach you how to do it. Stop trying all the church’s attempts to draw you into relationships with others without having that relationship with Him first. When you come to that place where Enoch was, you will know it. And those whose life you touch from that day forward will say that you have a relationship with God like no other.
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