“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.” 1 John 5:1-2 ESV
Reflection: how is your relationship with Jesus?
I was talking with a friend yesterday, who was telling me about someone they knew and their spiritual journey. And, instead of speculating whether they were “saved”, my friend said that they had started “a relationship with Jesus”. I thought to myself, what a wonderful way to describe someone repenting from their ways, and turning their life over to Jesus, learning from and following Him. That is, in a nutshell, exactly the Christian conversion and walk. To
begin a relationship with Jesus.
If you think about it, many go to church, but don’t know Jesus. I mean, they don’t have a personal relationship with Him. So why then do people attend church? It is a range of reasons, of course. Some go to church just for fellowship, to make and to meet friends. Nothing wrong with that in principle, of course, unless that becomes the main purpose. Some see church as an opportunity to increase the visibility of their business, to increase profits. Some are “religious”, and like to follow rules which can make them think that they are doing something right. That they are better than others and God will reward their good, upstanding life and behavior. Some consider “being saved” like buying a good insurance policy, for eternity. Once and done. So they don’t see the need for anything else; just live their life as they please since they have been saved. And what so many Christians and church goers are missing, is the whole point. It is all about
having a relationship with Jesus.
So what does that really mean, you might say? We do know how to build relationships, even those that are “distant”. A fundamental first step in building any relationship is to get to know each other, right? To learn about what they care about, how they think and behave. And, we can get to know Jesus through studying about Him, what he said and did. But that does take time, and it takes dedication. We cannot just listen to a Christian worship music, attend church now and then, and call it good. That is not a relationship. We have to open the Bible for ourselves.
Let me illustrate this by a simple example. Jesus said ““If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” John 14:15 ESV. Tell me, how can anyone demonstrate that they love Jesus, if they don’t know His commandments? One of the hard things about a relationship with Jesus, when we truly want to follow Him, is that it requires us to give up things that damage our relationship with Him. When we spend time with Him in His word, and in prayer, we will be convicted of things that hurt the relationship. So then we have a choice to make, which will tell us how
Important the relationship is to us. Do we love Jesus more?
I was watching a couple of episodes of the Chosen last night where Jesus was washing the feet of the disciples. And He makes an interesting point “Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”” John 13:8 ESV. The act of washing the feet, was a servant’s duty, of a cleansing before having fellowship (a deeper meaning here). And our Master is telling us that His is not only willing to cleanse us, but that we cannot have part in Him otherwise. But, here He also gave a command, which is a great illustration of us learning about Him so that we can do what He commanded us to do. Let’s read.
“When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” John 13:12-17 ESV. We can learn from Him, because He is our Teacher, in addition to being our Lord.
Are we obeying His commandments? Do we even know what they are?
Spend some time in quiet today, to reflect on where we are at in your relationship with Jesus, and whether our actions demonstrate our love for Him. Let’s spend more time with our Teacher and Lord.