How Do You Greet God?

Not that long ago I got home from work earlier than usual. Shortly after I said hi to the dogs and walked past my daughter’s bedroom, where I saw our cat lying in her bed, something really struck me. I thought about the different greetings I had received.

At the door, eagerly waiting for me was our Golden Retriever, Clover. She was so happy to see me. At times we literally think she is smiling, she is so happy. She was bouncing up and down, so anxious to get my attention and let me know that she was happy to see me home.

Then there was Coco, our pug. She was unable to greet me at the door because she had gotten herself into a little predicament. Every once-in-a-while this happens to her, where she ends up falling behind our couch and is stuck. She sits on top of our couch looking out the window but either she gets worked up seeing someone outside and loses her balance or she literally has fallen asleep on top of the couch and fallen off.

So there she was, stuck behind the couch and so I had to rescue her. She was very happy to see me but I think it was more about getting her unstuck. I have no idea how long she had been back there. But at that moment, I was her rescuer.

Then there was Scamper, the cat who was snoozing away on my daughter’s bed. She never bothers to greet any of us at the door. She comes to us when she has a need (food, water, a rub). She was just content to be where she was at.

So what does any of this have to do anything? Well the thought that struck me was how much we are like my pets when it comes to our relationship with God.
How do we “greet” God? Are we eager, ready to receive Him? Are we joyous about being in His presence? Or are we like my pug, just needing someone to rescue us, to get us out of our predicaments? Worse yet…do we not bother with God? But only when we feel it’s in our best interest or at our most convenient time?

I don’t know about you…but I would rather be like my dog Clover when it comes to greeting God. When I go to church tomorrow, when I open the Word, the next time I pray…I want it to be that I am so overcome with joy about God, that I can hardly contain myself. I don’t want to get myself so worked up about things that I fall away from God and then call on Him to rescue me. I don’t want to get sleepy in my walk with God and then when the going gets tough, I call on Him. And I most certainly don’t want to sit in a comfortable spot where I could care less about His presence.

How do you want to greet your God?