Be With Jesus

"And He [Jesus] went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted. And they came to Him. ¹⁴ Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, ¹⁵ and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons..." 

Mark 3:13-15

I love Jesus.  I love everything about Him:  the way He spoke, the things He said, what He did, and how He interacted with others.  Everything about Jesus Christ is unfathomably significant, and as we walk with Jesus in faith day by day our eyes are increasingly opened to His goodness, love, majesty, and power.

The God who said "Let there be light!" and there was light, the Creator of all the universe, put on human flesh in the person of Jesus.  As a man He called people to follow Him, even though He could have done everything by Himself.  In doing this Jesus not only provided us an example, but revealed how deeply personal He wants our relationship to be with Him.  Unfortunately for some people, a relationship with God is merely a connection to benefits they desire for themselves.  They can be so fixated on their calling, gifting, abilities, and authority through Jesus they miss out on the most fundamental aspect of following Jesus in the first place:  being with Him.

After Jesus went up the mountain, He called His disciples to Him.  He had found them caught up in the busyness of life mending their nets, even sitting behind a desk in the tax office.  Jesus walked up to some and said as He passed by, "Follow me."  As time progressed Jesus called some to be His intimate associates, twelve disciples who committed their life to follow and "be with Him."  This is a small phrase found in verse 14 which is easy to gloss over, overshadowed by the preaching, power to heal, and casting out demons.  Jesus desired for these men to be with Him continually, and everything else was a natural outflow of that relationship.

God spoke through the prophet in Isaiah 7:14:  "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel."  Immanuel means, "God with us."  Mary conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit and brought forth a son named Jesus, and He would save His people from their sins.  All who have repented and trusted in Christ have received Him through the Gospel by faith.  After His death and resurrection, Jesus ascended to the Father and has sent the Holy Spirit to dwell within and empower every one of His disciples.  God will never leave or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5), yet familiarity does not mean we intentionally set time aside to spend with Jesus.  He bids us even now to come away from the pursuits of this life and be with Him.  I recently heard a pastor say it is tragic when our talks with God have been reduced to "necessary conversation."  It is also tragic when we are so focused on our calling or gifting that we forget who has called us and why:  Jesus wants us, and wants us to spend time with Him!

I encourage you to answer the call to spend time with Jesus today - not just for a set amount of time, but purpose to abide continually in His presence and love.  What sort of healthy relationship could you possibly cultivate with strict time limits over your social interaction?  Do you have to juggle your routine to squeeze a little time in with God?  "First thing in the morning I spend an hour in prayer and Bible reading," you might say, perhaps even pleased with your level of devotion.  Is this the extent of a quality, loving relationship - time meted out by the hour?  That sounds more like a prison visit, speaking to someone behind glass at your convenience!  No my friends, this will never do.  Jesus called us to be with Him, and we need to abide in Him throughout the day.  Have conversations with Jesus, tell Him how you feel, thank Him for what He has done, and meditate on His Word.  Drop what you might normally do or feel like doing and spend time with Jesus today.  He loves you and wants you to be with Him!

The Cake Cycle

Motive often determines outcome.  Even in something like exercise, our motives for why we spend time and effort to intentionally exercise shapes our results - for good or bad.  I have been cycling a bit of late to rehabilitate my surgically repaired right knee.  As an added bonus it has improved my cardiovascular fitness, as well as being a fun challenge to tackle new routes.  The other day I offered the mum of one of my son's friends a slice of carrot cake I had baked.  She had just walked in after a long ride.  "Oh no, but thank you," she said.  "You see, I'm riding my bike to be fit and so I really shouldn't eat any cake today."  I quickly retorted, "Well, I cycle so I can eat cake!"

Do you see the difference?  Because Sally (not her real name) rides her bike to be fit, she viewed eating cake as inconsistent with that activity.  Her concern was indulging her taste buds would "undo" all the benefits she laboured to gain.  In the interaction with Sally I discovered my desire is to eat cake, and so my motive for exercise is primarily to work off any bonus calories I put in.  In thinking this over, I see my way of thinking is problematic - problematic that is, if my primary motive for riding my bike is to be fit.  If I want to be fit, why would I hinder my progress by eating too much dessert?  Why would I make riding harder for myself by putting junk in my tank?

It occurred to me the same issue with motive can play out concerning our spiritual walk with Jesus Christ.  Are spiritual disciplines something we do so we can justify doing what we want when we want?  After of long day of Bible study, a counseling session, meetings, teaching, writing, and prayer, I can feel very much like numbing myself with some television, gaming, scrolling, or swiping.  But wouldn't it be better that we limit or cease certain activities because our lives are so caught up in loving and seeking God?  Because we are seeking God, we refuse to give into the demands of the flesh.  Obeying God, denying self, and serving others shouldn't become a justification for "me time."  The result is spiritual stagnation and a cycle of works, labouring to "earn" the right to a reward we have picked out for ourselves - which isn't always good for us.

Now don't misunderstand:  God has given us hobbies, interests, and everything to richly enjoy.  We do have freedom in Christ, yet not everything we can do is helpful or beneficial.  It's a good thing to consider our motive concerning why we read our Bibles, go to church, or pray.  Is it something to "get out of the way" so we can do the thing we are really looking forward to - like working hard on that bike to earn a frosty root beer float after dinner?  When it comes to the deeds of the flesh Sally's perspective is best:  "I'm not going to indulge the flesh because I have sought, am seeking, and will continue to seek God today."  The flesh is happy to make deals to indulge itself, but our new lives given us by faith in Christ ought to be invested to please God.  By God's grace, by the Holy Spirit, according to His Word we can!

Precious Thoughts

While driving last night I had a fun and enlightening conversation with God.  In a relationship with God we have the freedom to have some very unorthodox thoughts.  My thoughts were something like this:  "God, if you were confined within time and I was the only person in the entire world, would you be bored?  Would you go for hours without hearing from me?  Would your life consist of a fair amount of thumb twiddling because I was off doing my own thing?"

Thought immediately flooded into my mind that went something like this.  "You have it all wrong.  Even if you were the only person in the world, my thoughts would be continuously focused on you even if you didn't regard me at all."  Then a scripture came to mind.  The truth of Psalm 139:17-18 hit home:  "How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! ¹⁸ If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with You."  God's loving thoughts toward me do not depend on me at all.  He is not waiting around for me to involve Him with my life because He is proactive in exhibiting genuine love for me.  God is God, and therefore He is able to be personally involved with everyone on the planet simultaneously.  We all have all His attention at all times, and this my friends should be a great source of awe and overwhelming joy.

God delights in people, and has a special place for those who trust and include Him as a response to His love.  We are limited by time and our attention span is finite.  Some of us struggle to do two things at once!  But God does not "multitask" like people do.  His thoughts are good toward us, even when we wander, forget about Him, or even rebel.  We see this illustrated with the children of Israel, His chosen people.  Jeremiah 29:10-14 says, "For thus says the LORD: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. ¹¹ For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. ¹² Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive."  When God says "I will," we can know for certain He will.

God loves me and you.  His thoughts of us are more than the grains of sand in all the seas on this planet.  If only we realised how precious we are in God's sight!  Praise Him for His goodness and love He lavishes freely on us!

Humble Yourselves

Have you ever listened to your own prayers to God?  It is important our prayers reflect faith in God's revealed truth in His Word.  Sometimes our prayers do not demonstrate we trust the Bible.  We can beg God to "be with us" when He has promised never to leave or forsake us!  We can also pray for God to do things we are primarily responsible to do.  Through God's Spirit we are enabled respond supernaturally to God's grace and love as His adopted children, even as a flower turns toward the sun.

I was singing along with a familiar worship song which went, "Oh Spirit come make us humble."  It occurred to me it is true that only God can truly humble a man.  This is demonstrated in the scriptures when God humbled His people (Deut. 8:3; 16).  As I sang the words in church, it dawned on me this request for humbling by the Spirit is not a term of phrase found in scripture.  There are many times, however, where men are told to humble themselves.  Man has a responsibility to cooperate with God, to willingly humble himself before God who has freed us from pride and bondage to sin.  The biblical evidence overwhelmingly emphasises the need for man to humble himself before God.  Jesus said in Matthew 23:12, "And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."  James 4:10 states, "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up."  1 Peter 5:6-7 reads, "Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, ⁷ casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you."

We are called to humble ourselves, knowing it is God who enables us to do so by His grace.  If we do not humble ourselves, it is not because God lacks power or ability:  it is that we have refused to submit ourselves to Him in obedience and lowliness of mind.  We begin to walk in humility when we recognise God is awesome, and we are unworthy of God's goodness, love, forgiveness, and grace.  It is not attained through self-loathing or preoccupation with self at all, but a heart set on lifting up the glorious name of God in praise, worship, and obedience.  The LORD said through the prophet in Isaiah 57:15:  "For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones."  When we humble ourselves before God, He will revive us, draw us to Himself, and lift us up.  Praise the LORD it is He who enables us to do this!