Our Vertical and Horizontal God
“We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.” – 2 Thessalonians 1:3 Theism means that a person believes in a God who is experienced individually and personally. This is true for us as Christians; however, the beauty of life in the Kingdom is that we also participate in the reality of Jesus through other people. We relate to Him vertically but we also relate horizontally — we triangulate in such a manner that we learn about who He is in community. For example, in Christian marriage counseling, it is taught that as a husband and wife move toward God, they also move closer to each other. However, it is an often overlooked fact that the opposite is also true. As two human beings run
