Relationship.

 Relationship - "the state of being connected by blood or marriage."

    From the beginning of time, God created us to be His. He wanted us. He wanted us as His children. He wanted a relationship with us. That relationship was tainted when Adam and Eve gave into the deception of the serpent and disobeyed God. Ever since then, sin separated man from God, but that didn't stop Him from loving & desiring to be close to us. The Bible tells us in Romans 5:8 that God publicly displayed His love for us while we were still sinners by sending His son, Jesus Christ, to die for us.

His pursuit of us never stopped while we were caught up in our selfish ways!

    So, here we have God, the creator of all things, who desired to have us as His children, even though He knew we would disobey Him. In spite of us being us, He sent His Son to die for us so that we could be reconciled with Him. So that we could be related. 

   All of us have relationships, whether if it's with someone you like, your parents, friends, etc. We all know that in order to be in a relationship with someone, the two of you must be connected by some thing. This connection could be by blood, common interest, or marriage. The definition above says connected by blood or marriage. When Christ shed His blood, we were being reconnected with God. When He rose, we were given the opportunity to become His again.

 Relationship - the way in which two or more concepts, objects, or people are connected, or the of being connected.

    How can we accept the opportunity to be in a relationship with God? By confessing our sins & declaring Him as Lord of our lives. Now, it doesn't stop there. We become His children by living righteous and holy (1 John 3:10). Now, seems like a big standard right? Right, but it is totally possible! The Bible tells us in Psalm 119:9 that a young person can keep their ways pure by living according to God's word.

 "Sadly, we have gotten to a place where our relationships with people are thriving while our relationship with God suffers severely." - Tasha Cobbs, Worship 101 

   Our relationships with Christ are suffering, unfortunately. We say we love Him, but we don't take the time to get to know Him. We're constantly filling our time with others things that aren't beneficial, such as social media, boyfriends, etc.  Not saying those things are bad because I've had all of them before, but there must be a balance and God must be above them all.

    There's no secret, hard formula for having a relationship with Christ. Your relationship with Him is what you put into it. If you desire to have a strong relationship with Him, you must communicate with Him daily through prayer & listening. You must study His word & live by it. We weren't meant to do this alone, so it is also good to surround yourself with other young believers to hold each other accountable.

    I know your feelings are telling you that a "cute relationship" is what you need to feel loved. I know the world is telling you that if you have 1000+ followers on Instagram, then you would be enough. That's not the case & the feelings that those things can give you are temporary! Trust me, I know from experience! What you need is to embrace the unfailing, never changing love of Christ & realize that He is enough.

    God loves YOU! He desires to be in a relationship with you. He desires to be everything that you need and want, but you have to do your part! It's time for us to disconnect from temporary sources of happiness and connect to the One who will give us complete joy and satisfaction: Christ.