Well, it’s been a LONG time since I’ve posted one of these so I figured it’s time for one. As we come into this Fall, I’d like to start blogging more. Life has been full of so many ups and downs since my last post, however one thing that hasn’t changed is that God still takes the littlest of moments in my life and uses those to bring me closer to him and that’s what I want to keep sharing with the world. I was having a conversation with a relative earlier about how many things I say in a day or hear in a day that make me think “I could turn that into a sermon”. I had one of those moments today. I was complaining about an issue I was having with my Job and I had said something along the lines that I just need to talk to the right people to get it taken care of because in this world, it’s not about what you know, but who you know. (In all reality, I just need to work on complaining less, but that’s a story for another time).
If there’s one thing you know about me, it’s how much I LOVE to network. I always keep my business cards handy and whenever I get the chance to meet someone new, I will pull one out and make a connection. I often visit new churches and whenever I visit a new church, I will typically walk up after the service, and hand the Pastor a business card and tell them I’d like to sit down, buy them coffee, ask them questions about their ministry, and simply connect. Some Pastors take me up on the opportunity, some don’t have time in their hectic schedules, and there are no hard feelings either way, but I always think it’s cool when I get the opportunity to make a new connection.
As I was sitting here tonight, I was thinking, isn’t that concept the same way with Jesus? You see, we can know all ABOUT Jesus. We can spend our entire lives reading scriptures, attending church and learning ABOUT Jesus, but if we don’t truly know who he is, and don’t fully understand what it is he did for us so that we can have life, is it really any good? I’m taken to the words written by the Apostle Paul in the book of Phillipians, Chapter 3 verses 10-11 and it says this “I want to know Christ-Yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead”. You see, the apostle Paul had suffered a great deal of Trials for his Faith. He was a man of Action and stood up for what he believed in and what he knew was truth. He knew all ABOUT Jesus, but counted it all worthless compared to truly KNOWING who Jesus is.
Having a personal relationship with Jesus changes everything. I could drop the mic and end the sermon right there, but I won’t. You see, like any relationship, it’s not going to be perfect all the time and that’s OK. It’s going to have its ups and downs. There will be times where you don’t want anything to do with it. It’s going to take time and energy and effort to care for and attend to that relationship but the time you spend pursuing that relationship will be the best investment you could ever make in any relationship you ever choose to pursue because whether you choose to pursue him or not, he’s constantly pursuing you and has been since before any of us were born. He chose to pursue us from the very beginning by dying a gruesome death on a cross so that we could have life and life to the fullest. What that life to the fullest looks like is entirely up to us, but for me, Life to the fullest is in an intimate, personal, relationship with Jesus Christ and I hope it can be for you too.
Much love,
- Jonathan