Close Encounter of the 3rd Kind

Since the creation of the movie camera there have been hundreds of movies and shows revolving around aliens. Just in my lifetime...Dukes of Hazzard had an alien appear in the last couple of seasons. The Flintstones had the Great Gazoo. ABC revived V within the last couple of years. NBC had The Event. The list of movies could go on forever, ET, Independence Day, Alien, Aliens and Alien vs. Predator, Predator 1 and 2, Men in Black, Men in Black 2 and Close Encounters of the 3^rd Kind, receiving its title of different classifications of human encounters with aliens...3^rd kind meaning human observation of actual aliens. The enormous collection of movies shows there is a fascination with aliens.

            The basis of this fascination possibly is a built in desire to encounter something that is greater. (Notice in the movies the aliens have some advanced power that we are lacking.) Throughout the Bible we see different attempts people made to gain the attention of the ‘greater being.’ 1 Kings 18:26 and 28-29: They called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “O Baal answer us!” They shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the alter they had made...they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention. In modern times similar things can be seen during séances and the use of Ouija boards.

If we are not careful we, as Christians, begin to use church, the Bible, and prayer as a ‘ritual’ to get the attention of God. Experiencing God says these things are encounters with God. If these are encounters with God our attitudes should be different as we are involved in these activities. Imagine treating our encounters with each other the way we treat our encounters with God. Imagine if we talked without listening, looking at Facebook or texting while a friend was talking to us...most people don’t treat the people they love this way.

            Our relationship with God is a love relationship and God wants to cultivate this relationship by using these activities as an encounter with Him. Our attitudes should be the same as if we were encountering each other. We are engaged. We are interested in what God has to say. We desire to be with Him. We desire for this encounter to be enjoyable, for the relationship to grow deeper and last we desire for this relationship with God to be of the 3^rd kind...real, perpetual interaction.