In all of my relationships I want to sit around and talk about video games, comics, movies and sports. Those topics are fun, easy to talk about and never get too serious. One of my character flaws is that I avoid serious conversations. I hate asking tough questions that lead to tough conversations. I’d much rather keep things light and easy than be more intentional in my relationships.
And if I want to do that with my friends it’s no surprise that I try to do that with Jesus.
Obviously I can’t sit down and talk about Captain America with Jesus, but I still try to keep things light and easy with him. I do a lot of hanging out with Jesus: going to church, listening to worship music, hanging out with other Christians and reading Christian books. But if there isn’t any deeper intention behind those actions, then I might as well sit down and talk with Jesus about how Han shot first.
It’s not enough just to hang out with Jesus by doing Christian things. If we really want to have a growing relationship with Jesus there needs to be intention.
We can’t just go to church; we have to meditate on and apply what we hear.
We can’t just listen to worship music; we have to allow the music to usher us into God’s throne room.
We can’t just hang out with other Christians; we have to encourage each other to be more like Jesus.
We can’t just read a Christian book; we have to allow the Holy Spirit to speak to us through what we read.
It’s really easy to have a light and easy relationship with Jesus. That kind of relationship requires the bare minimum on our part but we still feel like we get all the benefits of the relationship. That kind of relationship is shallow, though, and can never move us to the full life that Jesus promised in John 10.
If we want the kind of life that Jesus lived, died and rose again to bring us, we have to be intentional about our relationship with him. We can’t just allow the relationship to happen to us, we have to invest our time and energy into that relationship.
Jesus wants to be with us for the fun times and the good times; any good relationship includes those elements. But if we want the best relationship possible with Jesus, we can’t just settle for fun times; we need to have some intentional times, too.
How are you intentional in your relationship with Jesus?
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