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What
does it mean when we hear someone say, “You need a
personal relationship with Jesus?”
John
3:16
I
think it is necessary to understand what the words Personal and relationship really mean.
Webster's defines each as follows:
PERSONAL
Relating
to, or affecting a person, done in
person without the intervention of another, caring on between
individuals directly.
RELATIONSHIP
The
state of character of being related or interrelated: connected.
Keeping the definitions in mind, ask yourself, “Do I have a personal
relationship with the Lord?” Another question to ask yourself, a little
closer to home, “Do you have a personal relationship with
anyone?” How about your
wife? or your Mom and Dad, your children? maybe a friend? Can, or do you, go to that person to share
everything, regardless of the problem, topic, or the item?
As I write and as the Lord reveals His knowledge to me, I am struck by
the fact that there are few real personal relationships. I am
talking about reality not fantasy. All of us would like to
say, ”Yes my wife and I have a personal relationship,” but do you go
to her about absolutely everything?
Often times the answer is, “Well, no I can’t possibly share everything
with her,” Why not? You should, she’s your wife. If
you can’t share something with your wife, maybe you shouldn’t be doing
it. [This holds true for wives with husbands as well] (Luke 12:3)
One of the most disappointing things that I hear from professing
Christian men and women is talking about their spouse, sharing personal
and even intimate details with someone else, often times the details
are being stretched to suit the needs of the person telling the story,
or, in this case, the gossiper.
(2 CO 12:20-21)
Jesus has asked us to know Him so well (personally) that we only follow
Him (John 10:1-5) even going so far as to say that we are His brothers,
sisters, and mother (family) if we do God’s will. (Mark 3:33-35)
Even if you are mad at God let Him know, if need be scream and holler
at Him, but let him know. He’ll settle you down. You need
to go to him with every little detail. He wants to know, and
unlike others we confide in, like a friend, we can go to Jesus as a friend (John
15:12-17) and it goes no further, and the advice is always right.
It may not be the advice we are hoping for but it will always be
right.
A good example of really knowing someone personally would be a person
you admire, like a sports figure, a mentor, a pastor, or maybe a
friend. I am going to use a sports figure and since I am from
Colorado I’m going to use the greatest Q.B. to ever play the game of
football, “John Elway.” If I had all of Elway's trading cards
with personal history on the cards, news clippings, coffee cups from
the gas station, pictures on my walls, an Elway Jersey, even a bobble
head stuck on my truck dash and I knew all of the details of every game
that John played--as much as I would like to think I knew John, it
would only be second hand knowledge and I would know about John Elway
but I would not know him personally. If I were his neighbor and
got to watch him while he was out in his yard working or playing and
talk to him every now and then I would know about John and know him as
an acquaintance--I’d know him a little bit, but I still would not KNOW John. If I were his son
the story would be completely different. His wife, different yet,
and his mother and dad still a different story. But if I would
put it all together, I would know the true John Elway. I would know his
likes and dislikes, his favorite foods and his areas of weakness, as
well as his strengths. I would know him outside of football, and
inside of football. If I were his son I would already know these
things and have that relationship. If I were his father, I would
know him even better because he is my son.
We are the sons and daughters of God, (2 Cor. 6:18) so why don’t we
have that relationship? This is what Jesus wants--a true relationship.
If I wanted to know everything about Elway I would have to study, read
everything about him, and still not have that personal relationship I
would like to have with him. It would only be knowledge.
And knowledge puffs up. (I Co 8:1-3) A personal interacting is
necessary.
Why aren't we personal with Jesus? Is this
sports figure more important than Jesus? It would seem so.
What if
there was a choice between your favorite event and being able to spend time with
Jesus, most of the time, the event would win. More often than
not, Jesus gets bumped for even a small event that we really don’t even
care about but since our friends invite us, we go. What if Jesus
treated us that way? If we are ashamed of Jesus He will be
ashamed of us (Luke 9:26) what a frightening thought.
I’ve heard it said, “I’ll talk to God when I’m driving to work or
to the event”--is this quality time? Is this the time you would
like to spend with your child as a parent? That is shared
time. The driver needs to pay attention to the road and what's
around him, that’s not undivided attention. A child wants one on
one time with the parent and that is very important and needed.
Look at
it this way, you have a son or daughter in their teen years, they are
getting involved in sports, friends, and different activities.
You say to them one Saturday “lets do something together.” They
say “no I’m going out with friends,” day after day, week after week
your child has something going on more important than spending time
with you or your family. (Even though this is a very acceptable
thing today, it is very wrong) Tell me honestly would you be hurt
enough to apply some kind of rule that the child will spend more time
at home? This is normally called grounding. Don’t you think
Jesus feels the same way? The exception is that Jesus won’t
ground us,
we have free will, a grounding is a forced issue. But we will
miss the many blessings
in store for us.
It seems the more your child gets involved with other things the
further that child moves away from the relationship you once had.
Understanding
as we grow, the relationships also change, but the change should be
closer and stronger, moving into maturity, not drifting apart, and
getting weaker. We wouldn’t want that as parents, and God doesn’t
want that as our Father.
Getting personal with Jesus and staying personal has brought great
change, not only in my life but the life of my wife, family, and
friends. My understanding of His word and of His love has gone to
depths
that I would not have ever guessed. It all comes down to
our priorities, is Jesus
top shelf or bottom row?
If you are one who wants to make a decision to have that relationship
with Jesus, it is a decision to be made in your heart, and stand
firm
on that decision.
First, set time aside to talk to God, not just a hello - goodbye
but a time to communicate, talk to him as your child would talk to you.
Second, find a Bible you can understand, ask God to teach and guide you
in the foundation of truth. (Isaiah 28:16; 1Co 3:11-14, Jn 14:6)
Stay away from fuzzy, feel good books, they are only the opinions of
the author, you need God's Word. (2 Ti 4:3-4)
Third,
don’t think you have to do all the talking, it is very important to
spend time
listening to God. (Remember, we want our children to listen
to us.) (Luke 10:39-42)
Fourth, be a doer of the
Word, not just a talker. (James
1:22-25) There are so many Christians who speak the
word but are far from it. Non-Christians can pick this up in
a
heart beat. That is hypocrisy not truth, and it is damaging to
your witness and to the kingdom of God. I have heard too many times someone say,
“I work with people who claim to be Christians, but why are they
different in church or around other Christians than they are at work,
they are no different than the non-Christians?” We are called to
be set apart, not to blend in. (John 17:13-19)
And fifth, let your spouse and children see you having that time
with the Lord. Share with them the excitement of what the Lord is
doing in your your life, giving them encouragement to do the same.
A Muslim man made a great impact on my life when Jenifer and I were
counseling him. We knew each other pretty well so he said, “I am
going to tell you what we know about the Christian faith. We know
when a Christian is trying to convert us and we ask just a few very
simple questions about the Christian faith. We as Muslims know
the Bible better than the greatest majority of Christians. They
can’t even answer a simple question, so I say, go and learn your faith
and then try to tell us about ours." He was right, sad but
true. So go and learn your faith--spend
time with God, get to
know Him personally. Get to know Him so well that you always have
an answer when someone asks you about the hope that you have. (I Peter
4:15) Remember, the shepherd knows his sheep and the sheep know him and follow him. (John
10:14, 27)
Be real, Know
Jesus
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