Spending time with Jesus is life-changing
Spending time with Jesus is life-changing. One of the ways you will change is that, as you come to know Jesus better, you will find growing within you a desire to follow Him more and more. You will find yourself following Jesus not because you should, but because you want to!
And it doesn’t stop there. Getting to know Jesus better will make you better able to love and help those around you – your family, your friends, and anyone God places in your path.
A chamber in God Himself
George MacDonald writes, “In every man there is a loneliness, an inner chamber of peculiar life into which God only can enter.
There is a chamber also (O God, humble and accept my speech)— a chamber in God Himself, into which none can enter but the one, the individual, the peculiar man—out of which chamber that man has to bring revelation and strength for his brethren. This is that for which he was made—to reveal the secret things of the Father.”
What exactly does this mean?
First, MacDonald agrees with St. Augustine when he wrote, “You have made us for yourself [O Lord], and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”
But then MacDonald goes on to suggest something further. He talks about a place, a chamber in God Himself, that God has reserved only for you. A place no one else can enter but you, where God waits to be with you, to hear from you, to listen to your thoughts and desires, your hopes and fears, and to respond to you and build you up in His love and grace.
Can you imagine that? Can you imagine that there is a place within the heart of God that He has reserved just to be with you? I love that thought! And I believe it’s true.
You become more like Jesus
What happens when you meet God in this holy place? You become more like Jesus!
As you come to know Jesus better, you find that you are following Jesus because you want to, not because you should. You find Him to be so good, so loving, and so beautiful, that you want to do whatever He asks so others will know Him as well.
You are no longer “trying” to become like Jesus. It is God doing the work He promised in Philippians 1:6:
“being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
As we spend time with Jesus, God is able to change us, to reorder our loves, and make us more like Jesus. The things He wants, we want. The things He values most, we value most. The people He loves (which is everyone), we love. Yes!
Next steps
As you have been reading these posts, I hope you’ve begun to spend time with Jesus. It’s not in the “knowing” but in the “doing” that your life will change.
Let me suggest you try something. When you’re with Jesus today, focus your thoughts on simply loving Him. Thank Him for all He’s done for you. Tell Him you love Him, and that you’re grateful for His love. And spend some time in silence, just being together.
He is good!