Relationship with Christ
Hello! I believe that the Holy Spirit brings us to faith! It is not by our doing that we know God and have a relationship with him! But, I ask, why does coming to faith happen in different ways and at different ages? I know this sound like a minute question, but to me the answer would clear up a foggy understanding. For example, someone asked me if I was full of faith my whole life and did I always have a relationship with Christ. I thought about it and said my relationship with God grew immensely with Christ in college and that is when I remember really building a relationship with him. But, hasn't he been with me since birth? How come I did not always feel I had a relationship with him? Why don't others become aware of Christ until later in life? Doesn't God start a relationship with us since baptism? Please clarify! Thank you.
God does bring people to saving faith and employs them in his kingdom at different stages of life. Jesus’ parable of the workers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16) illustrates that. That parable especially highlights the truth that Christians, no matter when in life they may have been called to faith, enjoy equally the blessings of salvation.
Your questions seem to address the situation of a person who is baptized early in life and then grows “in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). If you were baptized early in life, you “had a relationship” with God from that point on. That relationship consisted of being part of the family of God (Galatians 3:26-29). As you grew older, your knowledge of the Scriptures increased and your faith deepened. Not surprisingly, different events in life can take place that lead us to appreciate all the more the relationship God established with us. For example, one of the reasons God allows difficulties to enter our lives is to draw us closer to him (Romans 5:3-5; Hebrews 12: 7-11; 1 Peter 1:6-7).
God’s desire is that all people know him in faith and enjoy his salvation (Isaiah 45:22). God’s will is that those who have been brought to saving faith in Jesus Christ “examine” and “test” themselves (2 Corinthians 13:5). Your questions helped us do just that.