Too many self-proclaimed Christians believe that maturity in Christ will happen automatically over time. They think the longer they have known Him, the more they will know about Him. None of our other relationships work this way, so why should we expect our relationship with God to be the exception? We might have the same mail delivery person for twenty years, but odds are we will never actually know them. We probably know their name and might even recognize and wave to them at the grocery store, but that is generally as deep as our relationship will ever go. Unless we make a conscious effort to understand what makes the other person tick, to share dreams and aspirations together, to help one another in a time of need – until we do those things, we can’t truly be in a relationship with them. Yet we think with God this dynamic will somehow be different. We believe that since He is God and we said a prayer to Him, our relationship will magically blossom and all will be well.