I was hit hard and heavy this morning with the truth about what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus.
I’ve known since giving Him my heart that it wasn’t about rules and the Law, but about walking with God; knowing Him as my lover, my Saviour, my Abba-Father, my Lord and my closest and dearest friend. But getting that truth into our hearts and into our actions is a process.
In some ways I was comparing my life circumstances and my race with someone else on the race. I was thinking because A plus B equaled C for this person, the formula must be the same for me. But then I realized that God can do what God wants to do in my life and He is not bound by equations, logistics and law. If God wants A plus B to equal K, then A plus B will equal K! It is a personal relationship with Jesus, meaning He walks with us individually and my journey with Him is not going to look the same as someone else’s relationship with Him and theirs will not look like mine.
It reminds me of the time when Peter came to Jesus and asked Him about John, who was known as the one whom Jesus loved. The Scripture says in John 21:20-23:
20 Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”) 21 When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?”
22 Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” 23 Because of this, the rumor spread among the believers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?”
Peter was in this state of comparison, but what Jesus did in that moment, was really define what it meant to have a personal relationship with Him. Peter’s relationship with Jesus would look different than John’s with Jesus. None better than the other…just different. And what God chooses to do in someone else, is really none of our business (other than to help them get there).
How beautiful is that? Not only did God come down to be a part of humanity, to invite us in as a whole, but He knows us as individuals and He has and will continue to relate to us in the way we need to be related to. My path in life will look so different from yours. I will experience different things, know different people, be tested in different ways, be broken in different ways, be comforted in different ways and be loved in different ways. What God uses to teach you and mold you, He may not use to teach and mold me. He has personalized this relationship, and made it uniquely ours. None is meant to be better or worse. He treats none of us with favoritism, just differently and always, always out of love.
So I leave you with this:
May you truly come to know the fullness of what it means to walk in a personal, intimate, unique relationship with Jesus Christ.
May you not allow religion to drain the life and process out of that.
May you be at peace with where God is leading you.
May you fix your eyes on Jesus and His leading.
May you yield not to logic and reason, but only, ever, always to God Almighty Whose will shall be done and Whose kingdom will come.
May Jesus be so very personal to you. And you to Him.
May you choose not to compare your walk with someone else, but embrace your own!
For the King and the Kingdom,
-Aisha
