There are questions that are not easily said, but remain present inside.
Some of the most honest questions are:
Does God really love me? Or is it just my role to obey him?
Many people live their relationship with God as if it were based on a simple principle:
I obey… so as not to be punished.
I commit…to be accepted.
But is this really a relationship? Or just a system we try to stick to?
There is a profound difference between those who do what is right because they are afraid, and those who do it because they are loved.
The first lives under constant pressure, calculating every step.
As for the second, he moves from a different inside, from confidence and comfort.
Fear may push a person to obey, but it does not change the heart.
As for love, it does.
So the question becomes clearer:
Are you drawing closer to God…or are you actually hiding from Him?
When Jesus spoke of God, he did not present him as a distant power or as a ruler watching from above, but as a father close by.
A father who sees, hears, and cares.
His words were not complicated, but rather simple and close to life:
Seek and you will find… knock and it will be opened to you.
It is as if the message says that God is not far away, waiting for your slip, but rather near, waiting for you to approach.
Even more than that, he presented a completely different picture of the nature of God’s relationship with man.
He talked about a father waiting for his lost son, not to punish him, but to receive him.
And about a shepherd who leaves many in search of one who is lost.
These images do not describe a God who first searches for mistakes, but rather a God who searches for man himself.
But a difficult question remains:
What about my mistakes?
Is there still a place for me?
Perhaps what weighs heavy on the heart is not the mistake itself, but rather the feeling that this mistake ended everything.
But the idea that may change your outlook is that your mistakes may distance you in your feelings, but they do not cancel God’s love for you.
We’re moving away, yes.
But God does not turn into an enemy.
Rather, he remains present… waiting.
Not waiting for condemnation, but waiting for a return.
The problem is that many people have learned that love is earned, that acceptance has conditions, and that value is linked to what a person does.
We project this onto God without realizing it, and we think that He is saying:
Get better first…then I will love you.
But the picture presented by Jesus was completely the opposite.
The idea was not: improve in order to be loved,
Rather: You are loved, so you can come.
Here the whole starting point changes.
Obedience, in this context, is no longer a condition for acceptance, but rather a natural consequence of a real relationship.
A person who trusts those he loves does not need a threat to obey him.
Obedience becomes an expression of trust, not a response to fear.
It turns from a burden into a life.
However, many people go through moments when they feel that God is far away.
They pray and feel nothing. They ask and do not see an answer, so they think that God does not care.
But perhaps the problem is not always the absence of God, but rather the image we have of Him.
When we see him as a harsh judge, we are afraid to approach.
And when we think it’s too far away, we stop trying.
But what if it is closer than we imagine?
So what does God want?
Does he want rituals, memorized words, or repetitive actions?
Or does he want something simpler…and deeper?
He wants a relationship.
A relationship in which there is honesty, no affectation, and no attempt to hide the truth.
For a person to talk to God as he is, not as he thinks he should be.
To say what is on his mind, even if it is confusion, doubt, or fatigue.
Maybe this is the real beginning.
You are not required to understand everything, nor to change everything at once.
Rather, start with an honest step.
To simply say:
Lord… if you really love me, help me know you as you are, not as I imagined you.
In the end, a question remains that deserves to be asked calmly:
If God truly loves you…
Does your relationship with him today reflect this love?
Or is it still based on fear and duty only?
Maybe faith does not begin with a ready answer,
Rather, with a moment of honesty… in which a person dares to search.