This week we talk about you and Jesus. How are you and Jesus doing? A good way to understand how you and Jesus are doing would be to rate your relationship with Him like you would a marriage or friendship. Are you spending quality time together? Do your decisions grow your relationship? Do others know about your relationship? What is getting in the way? It is so important to know where you are at with Jesus and build on that. When you don’t know where you are at, you miss out. This week and next week we look at Spiritual Disciplines. Spiritual Disciplines are habits that draw you closer to Jesus and all that He wants you to become. To start we need to understand why they are important.
Many of us trust Jesus for our salvation, but we don’t trust him with our life. We trust Jesus to save us from Hell, but we don’t trust him to make us a new creation or better. We see in John 12:25 that Jesus talks about how a man can only gain his life by losing it. The whole picture being painted here is that we must pursue the eternal life that Jesus has for us now and let go of the temporary life offered by the world. For example, I used to always watch Netflix into the early hours in the morning. Some would call this binge watching. I felt convicted one night to stop binge watching and use that time to pray. Therefore, I lost binge watching and gained prayer. Practically, I slept better and had a clearer mind for the next day. And as an added bonus, I stopped worrying about whether or not Oliver would come back to life on Arrow the next day.
Jesus gives us a new life every day when we chose to lose the old life that gets in the way. It’s why we can say our history doesn’t define us or dictate our future. Successful habits create successful experiences and people. Don’t miss out on experiencing Jesus in amazing way. Don’t miss out on becoming a better you.
Now back to my original question. How are you and Jesus doing? In other words, what habits do you need to lose that get in the way of you and Jesus? What habits need to go away so you can become a new creation every day? Next week Mindi will write about what they have meant for her. As a wife to me, a mother of three and more, spiritual disciplines have played a crucial role in her success. Tune in next week.