John 2:23-25
I have been challenged recently by something a mentor-pastor has told me as I questioned him about his devotional life. One of the things he said, which he picked up from someone else years ago in seminary, was, "Never get too far from Jesus." Though you may think that sounds a bit pragmatic and unnecessary, that is something we all should be reminded of.
It is really easy for me to get focused on other things. It's easy for me, for example, to get stuck in the theological meat of Paul's epistles. It turns me on. I also like the revelation of Christ in the Old Testament. I think that prophetic forwardlooking is plain awesome. I feel I fail in just keeping a real, lively, lovely, vital, personal, heart-to-heart, friend-to-friend, savior-to-sinner kind of relationship with Jesus day in and day out. It's easy to get caught on the periphery. The boggy periphery for some may be the miraculous. It may, for others, be the charismatic. It could be the commandments for a few. But it's the periphery, nonetheless. It's the stuff about Jesus--which is great. But it's not the greatest--which is Jesus Himself.
Many in Jerusalem believed in Jesus due to the miracles they saw (v. 23). I have to take that at face value. The Bible says they "believed." But at the same time, Jesus did not entrust himself to them for he knew their innermost (vs. 24-25). They were "believers" but not full possessors. Now, I'm not saying they were half-saved. Jesus was looking for disciples; these believed, but that's about it. I take that like this: they believed Jesus to be the anointed one of God, but were still missing out on a real, lively, lovely, vital, personal, heart-to-heart, friend-to-friend, savior-to-sinner kind of relationship with Jesus.
Many of us have "believed" in Jesus, maybe even due to the miraculous (or the prophetic, or the theological, etc.). I'm not questioning salvation. If you have never recieved Christ and you know you need Jesus in your life, go here. What I want is all of Jesus. I don't want just the super-spiritual-feely-good stuff. I don't want just the intellectually-satisfying stuff. I don't want just the great-physician stuff. I want Jesus. I want a real, lively, lovely, vital, personal, heart-to-heart, friend-to-friend, savior-to-sinner kind of relationship with Jesus.
Jesus "knew what was in man." He knew they believed. He knew that's all they wanted. So, apparently, He didn't entrust himself to them. That, perhaps, He reserves for those who really want Him and not just what he offers.
It is possible to be believers and not full possessors. I'm not talking about salvation. I'm talking about a walk with the risen Savior. That's Who I'm after today. "I have to decided to follow Jesus!" Hope you join me.
I'm praying for you today.
