Jesus and Life
In John 10:10, we have a record of Jesus saying, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (NIV). In the New Living Translation it says, “The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life” and in the Message Bible it puts it this way: “A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.” Jesus says that he came to give us life, and not just a mundane existence, but a full and abundant life. Does your life feel like that at the moment? The truth is that for many of us, life is becoming busier, more stressful and more complex. Often we lack the joy, the peace and the contentment that we know we really should have as followers of Jesus Christ.
Many Christians are unsatisfied with their faith and their relationship with God. They feel like something is missing. They are disappointed with their lack of spiritual depth. At times, their faith feels barren, shallow and even superficial. At times God seems distant rather than close. Most feel guilty about this, aware of their neglect of spiritual practices and their failure to be as close to God as they desire and know they should be. Others are faithful with spiritual activities but at times feel they are more like empty routines rather than life-giving practices. Still others find themselves busy serving God, like Martha, but wish they had more time to develop a greater intimacy with God, like Mary did (Luke 10:38-42).
1. Prayer. Prayer is simply conversation with God. Unfortunately, we live in a world with so many loud voices screaming for our attention that we can often miss the voice of God. God invites us to talk with him at all times about everything that is happening in our life (Phil.4:6). He also longs to speak to us and to share his heart and mind with us (1 Cor.2:1-16. Rom.8:14). He is with us each moment of every day, whether we realise it or not and whether we feel him or not. By faith we can live with this awareness.
2. The Scriptures. The Bible is God’s word to us. They were inspired by the Holy Spirit and through them he seeks to speak to us today (2 Tim.3:16-17). One of the most powerful ways to build a strong faith and a close relationship with God is to take time daily to open God’s word and ask him to speak to us through his Spirit. As we read God’s word, we begin to know his heart and his mind. We begin to think like him. We begin to know him better. It feeds our soul (Matt.4:4)
3. The Community of Faith. God dwells amongst his people (Matt.18:20). Yes, he is with us at all times but there is a special dimension of his presence when we gather with other believers in whatever setting. Often we hear God through others. We need community to grow in our faith and our relationship with God. Our love for God is directly connected to our love for others and his love for us is too. God often speaks to us through other people. When we drift from community, we often drift from God (Heb.10:23-25).
4. Service. As we discover and use our gifts to serve others, God is pleased. We become like him through doing good works that benefit others.
If we engage in these kinds of activities without a heart after God, then they become merely religious duties that fail to produce life. We can become like the Pharisees who were very religious but who did not really know God personally. We are called to live a life of grace, knowing that God loves us and accepts us just the way we are. However, we must refuse to allow grace to become cheap by not living a life worthy of his calling.
If we really desire to be close to God we have to make room for him in our lives. Often our lives can become so filled with clutter that we are too busy for God. We have to ask ourselves what really matters and whether the way we are living our lives expresses our preferred values. Without God, we will never experience the simple life. Change requires an honest self-assessment then the courage to stop procrastinating. Our life is a reflection of our daily habits. Transformation often begins with taking some ‘baby steps’ and then following them up with consistency and faithfulness until we start to see real change take place. Making room for God will most likely require some elimination – even of good things. The principle of displacement says that if we want to add something into our life we may have to remove something else to make space for it.