Pain
by David Lazarus

Mt 22:37
The Pain of Intimacy
The two greatest things in life
 
Love God
Love your friends
Sources of greatest joy in Life
We were made for intimacy
Nothing will satisfy us like Love
Because we were created to be in intimate relationship
Heart, Soul and Mind
 
We often replace these with things
Career
Find fulfillment in job
Possesions
new car, house
Reputation
Be someone everybody likes
 
I can’t be intimate with “things” so a coldness results in my life.
 
 
Reason we replace is LOVE HURTS
Songs, art, literature
What Yeshua had to go through to love.
 
Because love hurts, we close ourselves off.
We don’t want to risk being hurt again
We don’t open to God or to friends anymore
 
Substitutes for intimacy:
· MAGIC instead of God
live by rules and everything OK
Come to Yeshua and he will fix everything
 
Magic is something that promises success by right formular
Control people, situations
No need to be in relationship with them, from afar
 
Not Bibilical faith
Testimonies of believers who followed God and willing to give their lives. Where does it say in the Bible “Just follow these rules and everything will be OK?
 
Jeremiah, Job, Daniel, Moses, Joseph....
 
· Ritual
Religious activity without presence of God
Bible reading, praying, religious activities
 
Self discipline is my God
Satisfied with doing right
“Now that I’ve finished my duty to God, I can get on with me real life.”
 
Easier to relate to a ritual than a person
Easier to relate to a set of rules than to someone
These things will never hurt us
We can control them as we wish
 
Relationship is not in our control
Not control what others will do
Not control what I will do in relationship
 
Main reason we don’t get close to God is that we are afraid He will hurt us
 
God Chastises his children Heb.12:10
He doesn’t answer the way we want
Perhap bad marriage
Children not what you expected
You know in your heart that God could have done it differently if he wanted
 
Deep fear that if we get close, God won’t hear me
Or else he will be harsh with me
 
This has happened to alot of us with close friends
We’ve been hurt so we are not willing to open up again
 
We can feel the same way with God
So hurt and dissappointed that we are not willing to let God into areas of our lives. We’ve closed the door to intimacy.
 

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