Grateful for my relationship with Christ

Some people think of me as disciplined, so it may come as a surprise to find out how irregular my devotions are at times. While I want to spend more time in God’s Word – I just love to hear from Him directly! – I thought my inconsistency recently would give me a chance to explain why I can sometimes go for a few days without personal devotions, yet still be confident of my relationship with Jesus.

 

First of all, it is not as though I have never heard from Jesus before. So even though I may not read His words on a particular day or days, I take great joy in remembering what He has already told me. I thank Him for providing for my food and shelter, giving me my wife and kids, teaching me to be patient and loving with my friends and co-workers, and forgiving me for my failures and sins – I need His forgiveness way too frequently, but He died and rose to give it to me! So I am confident in my relationship with Jesus, first of all, because I still have His words. He reminds me of them every day, and I thank Him for them every day.

 

Secondly, I have Jesus’ Holy Spirit. Just the fact that I remember Jesus words daily is evidence that the Holy Spirit is living in me, teaching me over and over again to follow Jesus. The Holy Spirit comforts me when I do not have the time or discipline to read God’s word, reminding me that my relationship with Jesus has never been about my abilities or perfections, but only about Jesus’ perfections. It is Jesus who keeps the relationship going, and I depend on Him by faith. So as the Holy Spirit reminds me of these things, I am encouraged because I know that my relationship with Jesus depends on Him. He spoke His words, He lived a perfectly sinless life, He died, He rose, He ascended to heaven, He sent His Holy Spirit. So my relationship with Jesus depends on Him, and remembering His words and having His Holy Spirit prove that Jesus has not given up on the relationship.

 

Lastly, I am a part of a church. I have brothers and sisters in the family of God. And even when I am not reading from God’s word, I get to talk with my brothers and sisters about life in God’s family. We remind each other of God’s words. In other words, Jesus directs us by the Holy Spirit to speak His words to each other. As I listen to my brothers and sisters speaking Jesus’ words to me, I am listening to Jesus. Whose words are they, after all? My brothers’ and sisters’? Or Jesus’? The words are Jesus’ words. So even when I don’t read His words, I hear them, and my relationship with Jesus continues.

 

I hope this is encouraging to anyone else who sometimes struggles to read from God’s word. Be encouraged. Jesus has many ways of speaking to us: through our memory of past times listening to Him, through the Holy Spirit bringing Jesus’ words to mind, through brothers and sisters taking the time to remind us of Jesus’ words. That’s why I send my devotional thoughts out – along with the Scriptures themselves. I want to serve you, my brothers and sisters, by bringing our Brother’s (Heb. 2:11-12) words to you. We all struggle to be consistent in personally reading the Bible. But let’s be grateful that we can continue to have a relationship with Jesus by depending on what He’s already taught us, by hearing the Holy Spirit’s reminders and teachings, and by taking the time to speak Jesus’ words to each other.