You may well remember (or perhaps not so well) the maths lessons at school when you began to learn about graphs with an x axis and a y axis, thus
y axis
|
|
|
|
|__________________ x axis
These two axes, when joined, are used to represent the relationship between two variables, speed and time, for example. But enough of maths!
As a pictorial representation, the grid serves very well to show the relationships between you, God and other people.
Jesus made these relationships crystal clear when asked by a rich, young ruler what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus’ reply was to summarise, in effect, the ten commandments of the Old Testament – he said ‘love God and love your neighbour.’
The Christian version of the graph shows you in relation to God (the y axis) and you in relation to other people (the x axis).
GOD
|
|
|
|
|_______________
YOU Others
For the committed believer, the two axes are inextricably linked, they cannot be severed or separated.
Our relationship to God necessarily involves worship and service; our relationship to fellow human beings (and, as it happens, to the earth) springs from our worship and service to God. It is what God requires of us.
For some, sadly, the link does not really exist; they believe that morality, in terms of behaviour, is all that is important; the God side of things either doesn’t matter or is irrelevant. Such a morality lacks a stable or fixed source and may become flexible and change when convenient.
For the Christian, the link between faith in God and following His rules is paramount; the one necessarily follows from the other
O word of God incarnate,
O wisdom from on high,
O truth, unchanged unchanging,
O light of our dark sky.
We praise thee for the radiance
That from the hallowed page,
A lantern to our footsteps
Shines on from age to age
(Hymns & Psalms 478)