Who Is Jesus?
Is Jesus merely handy to have when we need him or is he someone we cant’ live without? Is he useful when we need something or is he all that we need? Is he convenient when we have a prayer list that needs answers and forgotten about when we are busy and happy? Am I the only one who wonders?
I feel like it’s easy to assume Jesus is just hangin out in our near vicinity waiting for us to need something; like he’s a magic genie and when I have a wish I just rub the lamp…maybe we don’t actually say out loud that we feel this way but I think a lot of us live like this is true. #thathurtmyfeelings
There is a big difference between dating and marriage. When we are dating someone there is no real commitment, we hang out and have fun, there is no intimacy (or shouldn’t be lol). But when we get married…everything changes. We have made a commitment, our time belongs to another and we share deeper intimacy.
Intimacy means IN TO ME SEE. It carries a level of honesty, faithfulness and exposure that casuel dating does not. Intimacy is closeness and a vulnerability that cannot be compared. Everyone is naked, things can’t be hidden, and if there is something you are trying to hide it is difficult to be intimate.
Jesus doesn’t want to be our genie he wants to marry us! He was so passionate for us that from the fall he created a plan to win us back to himself. John 3:16…”For God SO loved the world that he gave his ONLY…He desires us! He wants all of us because he gave all of himself, a life for a life. He hung naked and exposed and died to have us. He expects us to be fully committed, fully vulnerable and fully intimate with him. He knows all the things we try to hide anyway so we might as well fess up.
What if we treated our spouse like we treat Jesus? What if we barely spoke to our spouse unless we needed something, we ignored their attempts to talk to us, we used them for our convenience but didn’t fulfill any of their needs, and we only spent time with them once a week…I could go on? What kind of marriage would we have…we wouldn’t because we wouldn’t stay married for long. When we say yes to that commitment our spouse has certain expectations of us that we should be willing to meet.
I believe Jesus feels the same. He gave everything to have us! He loves us beyond comprehension and desires to be intimate with us. But we can’t fully know someone that we do not spend time with. When we pray that is one way to spend time with God. Prayer is not just taking a list of our needs to have him meet them but a dialog, a time to pour out our hearts pain and desires to him and let him come and speak to us in a deeper way. He wants relationship…the definition of relationship is: the state of being connected, involvement, having mutual dealings between two parties. Jesus desires to be our one…the one we share our deepest longings with and our greatest desires.
When Jesus is useful to me I could be guilty of using him, but if he is everything to me, beautiful for situations, the lifter of my head, the lover of my soul then he can pour more of himself into me so that I become more of a reflection of him to those around me. He can give me revelation and insight and reveal the secrets of his heart to me. These things are the ponderings of my own heart lately…maybe you have had similar thoughts. Maybe God is trying to draws us a little closer, hold us a little tighter or whisper deeper secrets to our hearts.
Father I know that you are calling us as a body closer to your heart. You desire more of us. Holy Spirit help us to lay our own agendas aside to pursue more of you, spend more time with you in prayer, turn our hearts toward you more often throughout our day and listen to what you have to say; birth desire in our hearts for the more. Set us ablaze with desire for you so that nothing else with satisfy but your presence. Show us your glory…. prepare us for the things to come. Breathe on us Holy Spirit fresh wind and restore to us the joy of our salvation.