Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?
Over the last hundred odd years, if your answer was “yes”, many evangelists believed the conversation need go no further. If we acknowledged a connection to Jesus, we could claim an authentic, orthodox Christian faith.
Yet how often do Christians find themselves burned out or overwhelmed within that very relationship? Is this relationship with Jesus sometimes driven by obligation and guilt? Can we think of times this connection has looked more like our relationship with our dry cleaner than our God? I mean, is our relationship with Jesus at times a proving ground more than a place of peace? A place of comparison more than a place of compassion?
Yes, we have a relationship with Jesus, but the better question is what kind of relationship do we have with him? After all, the Lord says his burden is light. He proclaims that a relationship with him bears good fruit. Therefore, as followers of Jesus, we are never satisfied with simply having a relationship with God. No, we want to know, is that relationship life giving?
So friends, over the next few weeks in worship, our sermons are going to examine how we tend to disorder our relationships with God (by living “for”, “away from”, “over”, and “under” God). And through each of these misaligned approaches, our prayer is that we begin to understand Jesus wants to be “with us”. Because we believe a life with God is always good news!
If you would like a resource to help you take the deep dive along with me, I would suggest purchasing the book With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God by Skye Jethani. This book is one of the primary resources I am using for our upcoming sermon series, and I believe it will help you explore your relationship with God.
Grace and peace,
Drew