Created to Relate: Insights Into Our Design and Purpose

Created to Relate

by Keith Carroll

Copyright ©2016 Keith Carroll

All rights reserved. This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. This book may not be copied or reprinted for commercial gain or profit.

Unless otherwise identified, Scripture is taken from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright ©1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation.

ISBN 978-0-9860923-2-9 (ebook)

For Worldwide Distribution

Printed in the U.S.A.

Relate To God Press

PO Box 341

Newburg, PA 17240

Table of Contents

Introduction

1. Two Realms Sustain Us

2. Body and Spirit Link Us

3. Conscious Soul Informs Us

4. Expressive Heart Reveals Us

5. Relational Concept Connects Us

6. Father’s Fellowship Nurtures Us

7. Will of God Directs Us

8. Purpose of Life Destines Us

Appendices: Keys to Understanding

I. Cold, Dark, and Evil

II. Body and Flesh

III. Get Understanding

IV. Attitude Rules

V. Mature Not Perfect

VI. Called and Chosen

VII. Light of Life

VIII. What Is Faith?

About the Author

Additional Resources

Special Thanks

For the inspiring contributions of

my wife, Nancy; Thelma and Gary Diehl;

Delores Ocker; and Alice and Rocky Rockwell

For the invaluable editorial skills

of Brian and Kathy Banashak

And to Sam and Daphne Eaton,

and Glen Reed for their deeply

rewarding fellowship

Introduction

We really are wonderfully made! So, what does God desire to accomplish in our lives and those of everyone around us? We invite you to embark on a journey of discovery to understand God’s creative intention. Created to Relate helps us discover the mystery behind why we exist.

God created the material universe as a place to birth and initially nurture the greatest of His creations: mankind. He created us as a composite of both the natural and spiritual realities for a very specific purpose. Created to Relate will provide fresh light on what is meant to be created in the image and likeness of God. It helps us understand the difference between our spirit and our soul, and also learn how to partake of fellowship in our heavenly Father’s presence.

You will see the clear difference between what we are as a functioning being (body, soul, and spirit) and who we are as a person (character, attitude, and personality). There is so much more to the human heart than you may have previously thought.

God desires to lead us through our life experiences. He provides guidance and insight through the inspiration of Scripture, from the life of Jesus Christ, and by His abiding presence. He remolds us into the delight of His heart as we seek to personally know Him and experience the fellowship of His presence.

While no one can fully know or understand God, we can understand His heart and ways, especially when we approach Him as our loving Father. The more we understand the heart and mind of God, the more effective we become in sharing His love in all our relationships. Scripture says more than forty times that we can know, teach, and walk in the ways of God. Jesus made it clear that this is not only possible but also achievable:

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened…If you…know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give…to those who ask Him! (Matthew 7:7-8)

Each of us can yield to God and become one with His purpose for our life. As we learn to become all that God made us to be, our life will be filled with a greater sense of value and profound satisfaction.

The ancient Greek philosopher, Socrates, is quoted as saying, Know thyself. Created to Relate is based on a much more reliable source of wisdom, the Bible. Let’s begin!

Chapter 1

Two Realms Sustain Us

Years ago Mac was in a meeting where he had an extraordinary experience. Please be aware that by this time he was a trained minister/teacher and God had blessed many through his ministry. The following is his story:

This was before air conditioning became the norm. Listening to the minister speak about the Fatherhood of God, I found myself a bit hot and bored, so I dozed off a few times. As the message concluded, we were instructed to close our eyes and imagine ourselves in heaven. We were to visualize walking up to the throne of God and getting up on God’s lap, as a child would with their father. I thought this was a bit silly, but began to do as instructed.

I saw myself approach the throne. When I got to the throne I climbed up and sat on God’s right leg. Soon I began to realize I was on the wrong side. Without knowing why, I jumped down and as I climbed upon the left side I began to realize this was not just my imagination. As I got comfortable His arm held me close and I dozed off. As I awoke I noticed the other hand was almost clenched into a fist and I dozed again. Then I heard the minister say, OK we are done, and I returned to my conscious self.

Immediately someone jumped up and told about their experience. Then another followed suit, then another. I realized everyone was relating their experience and that I would be expected to do the same. In a panic I began recalling what had happened to me.

All of a sudden insight burst upon me. God had held me close to His heart and I was so comforted that I dozed off. The other hand was poised to deal with anyone who would dare interrupt our close time together. In that instant my heart broke as I realized God was even better than my natural father. God deeply cared for me. Since that day, I have relished the fact that God is my heavenly Father. He is even better than I could have imagined.

— Richard B. McDaniel Sr. (Mac)

David was king in Israel from 1018 to 968 B.C. Although he was an imperfect man, Scripture records he had a heart after God (1 Samuel 13:14). David composed most of the Psalms of the Bible. When he thought about the majesty of God, he asked the question:

What is man that You [God] take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him? (Psalms 8:4; 144:3)

Even David wondered about God’s nature. Honest questions are healthy because they are simply our requests for more insight. They can prepare us to more fully comprehend and develop better understanding. So we ask with David: Who is God and what has He created in man that He should have any caring thought for us?

In the Beginning—God

There was a time when nothing existed but God alone. In fact, time as we know it did not even exist. There were no galaxies, stars, or planets—not even one! There was just God! Close your eyes and let that sink in for a minute. God! Are you feeling His awesomeness?

The One who identified Himself as I AM WHO I AM (Exodus 3:14) apparently has always existed, and as the Eternal One, He always will. His existence transcends the realm of time and space He created. Also notice He says, WHO I AM. God is a who—a person.

Scripture describes God as a supernatural being: eternal, omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, and invisible. In other words, God is a Spirit being that is all powerful, perceives all, is always present everywhere, and exists in a spirit realm that has no beginning.

God is the Eternal Spirit who created the material universe with its time and space progressions. He has always existed in the spirit dimension, a realm the natural eye cannot see.

Scripture also identifies God as our heavenly Father, the One who created us. In our beginnings, God perceived of us as offspring He would birth into existence and parent us as children into His own image and likeness.

Then God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness (Genesis 1:26).

Jesus spoke often of God as his Father and encouraged us to related to God as our Father.

Pray, then, in this way: Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name (Matthew 6:9).

Surely we can’t pin down the nature of God as if He can be analyzed or calibrated. God is not an object. The more we understand light and time, the more humbled and in awe we are when we read how these biblical expressions are used to describe God.

God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5).

God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him (1 John 4:16).

Our life in the limitations of time and space obscures our ability to fully understand God and the spirit realm. We must first believe that God and a spirit realm really exist before we can begin to perceive and make any sense of spiritual realities.

Seek the LORD while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts (Isaiah 55:6).

God designed humanity as offspring who would grow and develop into various expressions of His image and likeness. It appears that to facilitate His concept of fathering, God designed the natural time and space universe to be an environment where He could nurture His offspring’s initial birth, progressive growth, and maturing development.

Efforts to Understand

Who are we? Where did we come from? Why are we here? These are questions mankind has asked for millennia, grasping for answers from various disciplines.

Throughout history there have always been conflicting viewpoints on the existence of God and eternity, of creation, and the purpose for mankind’s existence. Here are three prominent worldviews that humans have developed over the centuries:

Pagan viewpoint: Many ancient cultures perceived a superior realm as the source of our beginnings. They envisioned godlike beings, represented by stars and constellations, with very human frailties, who created our world and controlled various aspects of life. They had a god of fertility, a god of war, a god of the seas, and a whole host of other various deities. Mortals were seen as pawns in a sometimes cruel, cosmic game.

Philosophical viewpoint: The philosophers of old were mostly concerned with human thought. Socrates was a proponent of ethics. However, he didn’t think virtue could be taught and believed it must be received as a gift from the gods. Plato is famous for his Republic in which he expounded on political theory and the just man. He saw the world as defective, yet he perceived higher values that could be appreciated and pursued, such as beauty, unity, and sameness. Aristotle is considered to be the father of logic. He emphasized man’s reasoning ability. Most philosophies today are based on these ancient teachings.

Scientific viewpoint: The scientific view most prominent today began to develop 100 years ago. It theorizes everything started with a very tiny, dense amount of matter that suddenly superheated and exploded in an event referred to as the Big Bang. At that point, so the theory goes, energy, matter and the universe suddenly expanded to fill some unexplained void, and 14 billion years later has became the universe we know today. They speculate that about 3.9 billion years ago living organisms appeared out of nowhere and evolved over time through a series of evolutionary mutations into what we see today. This theory is not held by all scientists.

Biblical viewpoint: In contrast, the biblical viewpoint stands apart from these attempts to answer who we are and why are we here. The biblical perspective, although not always understood, is articulated in Scripture, was lived in the life and expressed in the words of Jesus Christ, and is revealed by the abiding presence of God.

The biblical view of creation focuses on our relationship with our Creator-Father and encourages godly relationships with one another. The natural realm’s universe, which can readily be perceived by our natural senses, provides abundant evidence that the spirit realm is real and that God does exist.

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made (Romans 1:20).

Created to Relate starts with this biblical account and connects the dots of Scripture to bring fresh insight and clarity about our beginning and our destiny. If you are wondering what God has created and is making in you—read on!

Time, Space, and Eternity

The spirit realm is where God exists. The little we know about the spirit realm indicates it is far superior to the natural realm. This natural realm was created by God as a combination of enclosed and measurable spaces that exist within the immeasurable spirit realm.

In 1895, H.G. Wells wrote the classic science fiction novel, The Time Machine. Time travel has been a fascination of mankind ever since. In his book, Wells envisioned a dim and degraded Earth, some 800,000 years into the future.

Today, we have Dr. Who, another time traveler, who travels about from place to place and time to time. For more than 50 years, this BBC science fiction TV series has survived by rejuvenating the Doctor. To date there have been 12 Doctors. The longevity of the show is some indication of the fascination with time travel, both in Britain and America.

Some scientists believe that time travel might actually be possible. If people could go faster than the speed of light, which is calculated as 186,000 miles per second, they might actually go back in time—that is, if they could somehow survive the speed. Einstein’s famous equation, E=mc2, says that matter accelerated to the speed of light equals energy. So, if it were possible to achieve light speed, the would-be time traveler would likely be turned into a type of vaporous energy or be toast!

Is it possible that the interest in time travel reveals a deep-seated desire to live beyond the limitations of this life? Perhaps it comes from an inherent desire in man to experience life unrestrained by the natural realities.

For mankind, time and space are primary reference points that are continually