The Workshop Part 3

God is the Artist who shapes our life. We invite Him to do His work in us, His beauty spills into the world around us. This leads us into a curiosity to see what life looks like when we see God animating it. We don’t necessarily want to learn more about life, we want to learn more about God.

We need to learn who God is and how He is working. Beginning in the soul and moving outward, we reveal ourselves to God as we seek to grow in an open and honest relationship with Him. At the same time, He reveals Himself to us as we dive into His invitation to explore the mysteries of God. We can devote ourselves to discovering these mysteries of God and he will slowly reveal them to us or we can settle for a superficial relationship with God and He will remain hidden - not because He wants to remain hidden but because he waits patiently for us. If we refuse to settle for a superficial relationship with God, we have to dismiss any notion of secrecy from God in our life - not that we could hide anything from Him if we wanted to. And as we reveal ourselves to God, we will be known by God and be able to know Him more deeply.

You were made for an open relationship with God—secrecy is a result of sin.

With our invitation, He searches us to expand His presence in our lives while we search Him to discover the depth of His ways. The prayer of our heart becomes. “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23-24). In this, our attention is drawn in two directions, both of us revealing ourselves to God, allowing Him to search us, and us searching God to see how deep and how wide his love is for us. Through prayer, we invite God to alternate our focus from us discovering him and him discovering us without a preoccupation with either that minimizes the other. As we continue in ongoing growth, we continually reveal ourselves to God while He reveals himself to us. And then we bring this revelation - both of self and of God - out into the world we live in. At the same time, we are continuing to bring new experiences into the workshop of our lives, and we let Him guide where our focus should be from those experiences. 

You are designed for a relationship with God.

Pursuing a relationship with God is something our souls naturally want to do; it should not be considered work. When we work, we count the hours till we are done, and we focus on the task. When we pursue God, we find rest, true rest, as we enjoy a relationship with the God of the universe. God should be our best friend, and we should consider our time with him as such - not like time at work. Ongoing growth happens as we enjoy an intimate friendship relationship with God and pursue God out of the joy of friendship. We voluntarily make a decision for God just as He voluntarily made a decision for us. As we grow in our friendship relationship with God, we naturally want to spend more time in His presence, seeking Him. God partly reveals Himself in relationship and partly hides Himself to draw us into the unending journey of discovery. Because God desires to have a relationship with us, He coaxes us toward Himself rather than rushing upon us.