So maybe you don’t know God, but you’re curious about him.

Or maybe you know him a little, but don’t know how to take the relationship farther.

Maybe you’ve just fallen in love with him and feel like the sky’s the limit.

Or maybe you’ve known him for ages but the excitement has died down and you don’t know where to go next.

Welcome to real life relationships. Have you had a dating relationship or a friendship that falls into one of the above categories? I have. Our human relationships mirror our relationship with God, because he made us like himself. He loves relationships, and he wants us to know him like we know other people.

Yet unlike that person you liked in high school who wouldn’t give you the time of day, or the friendship you really worked at that never got off the ground, God will never refuse a relationship with you. In fact, he’s done everything on his end to make himself available to us.

He created us to have a relationship with him. Yet as our Creator, he is also our authority. We rebel against that authority daily. All mankind has since the beginning of time. And the only fitting payment for our rebellion is separation from God – death. So God himself came down – Jesus – as a man, who never rebelled, yet died for us, taking the blame for our sins, then rose again to prove that he had defeated sin and death. All so that the barrier caused by our rebellion could be removed and we could be friends with God in spite of it all.

God breathed his words into the ears of human authors who wrote the Bible. He said, “Here I am. This is what I’m doing. Tell my story to the world.” And they did.

And anyone who picks up a Bible can read those things straight from God’s heart.

But it’s a big book. Really big.

Where do you start? Let’s have a go together. Dig in a few sentences at a time. Maybe you don’t like to read. Maybe it’s hard for your heart to be quiet. Like any relationship, this one takes practice.

If you’re up for it, walk with me in the next few months through one book of the Bible, written by Jesus’ brother, James. We’ll read a few sentences, ask a few questions, think through what God might be saying to us, and share our thoughts back with him in prayer.

No matter if you don’t know God, have known him a few months, or have walked with him for years, there is always more to discover about him in his word. He’s there. He’s waiting. Let’s seek him out together.