The Relational God: What the Scriptural Commands for Children, Marriages, Siblings, and Parents Teach Us about God

What are the most important relationships in your life?

How do those relationships shape your identity?

What does the Bible say about how those relationships thrive?

What do they teach us about the nature and character of God?

The Relational God began with the question, "If God could have created us to be in any sort of relationships, why did He create us to be children, spouses, siblings, and parents?"

Even though our identities are so closely tied to those relationships, we don't often take the time to consider what they might actually be meant to show us. Perhaps God wants us to understand something more through our identities as sons and daughters, our identities as husbands and wives, our identities as brothers and sisters, and our identities as fathers and mothers.

The Relational God considers our common experiences in these relationships and then looks at biblical narratives which challenge and support those experiences. The book then distills down the biblical commands for each of those relationships in order to determine what doing them right might teach us about the nature and character of God. What we discover is that God created these relationships-and the rules which govern them-to serve as living metaphors that reveal truths about Himself. He wants these relationships to thrive, because, when they do, they reflect the very nature and character of God.

Steven Halbert is a husband, father, son, and brother. He has worked as a product manager and has held various roles in children and family service organizations. He enjoys writing, reading, and teaching adult Sunday school (which is where the idea for this book materialized). He has an associate degree in Bible and a master's degree in English. Steven has limited time to maintain a robust online presence; so you don't have to worry about following him or friending him or anything like that.