I have been reflecting on what it takes to keep my organic connection with God alive and full of passion. All things tend toward a loss of vitality and freshness, and my relationship with Jesus Christ is not immune to this.
How quickly I replace vital connection with repetition of activities. How easily I adopt a spiritual lifestyle that is more about routine or making me feel religiously good about myself then it is about friendship with Jesus Christ grounded in awe. How rapidly I find myself trying to do the right things out of some kind of need-to-perform or duty rather than receiving the grace and love that causes Holy Spirit transformation of my soul.
No matter how ‘organic’ my church expression seeks to be, it is still only as fresh as the interior fire in my own heart ignited by his just-for-today touch.
Jesus encourages us to remember our first love and I have been trying to read Scripture this way. I did not grow up with Bible stories or church sermons, so I remember what it was like to glimpse revelations of who this Jesus is through His word as His Spirit stirred my heart and made Him real and vibrant to me. He can do that again when I give Him the opportunity and approach His word with a fresh and open spirit.
Jesus also commends us, repeatedly, that it is the ‘sick’ or the ‘poor in spirit’ who find Him. My need for His immeasurable grace is no less today than it was years ago when I first reached out to Him. This deep awareness of inner poverty without Him helps propel me into a thirst that is potent and that seeks out a fresh encounter with God.
A.W. Tozer writes: “God formed us for His pleasure, and so formed us that we as well as He can in divine communion enjoy the sweet and mysterious mingling of kindred personalities. He meant us to see Him and live with Him and draw our life from His smile.”
May God stir us today to long for, receive, and enjoy all that He is!
