Maintaining our Relationship with God

THIS WEEK on Wednesday I read John 15 again, the chapter in which Jesus describes Himself as the True Vine on which all branches depend for life, and in which He commands us to love one another and promises that His Holy Spirit will bear witness of Him. He also tells us about the relationship we could have with God.

Pastor Ryan used John 15 that night in his sermon. It really gets my attention when God teaches me out of the same place in His word twice in a day or a week, because I don't believe in coincidences. Anyway, Pastor Ryan emphasized the necessity of our maintaining our relationship with God. Real ones, not just nominal ones. Our relationship with Him is to be full of communication and growth, not complacency and inconsistent behavior.

This is what Jesus says in John 15 about a relationship with God:
v. 4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me."
v. 6 "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire,and they are burned."
v. 8 "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples."
v. 15 "No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you."

I know I already blogged about John 15, but this is different. This is not about the meaning of the chapter alone. This is about maintaining the most important relationship we will ever have. Something that really spoke to me while I listened to Pastor Ryan was that we should not approach our quiet time like homework. I try to be pretty regular about my quiet time. I read one chapter of the New Testament before or during school, write in my journal and pray, read the reference in my devotional book when I get home, write in my journal and pray, and sometimes I read a chapter of the Old Testament at night.

Sometimes, especially in the morning, it is very hard to find time to just sit alone with God and listen to Him speaking to me in His word. I want to meet Him every morning and become more personally familiar with Him. But lately the best I can do is in the car on the way to school or in the courtyard surrounded by other people. It's better than nothing, but I'd rather pray privately and that is not easy to do around other people. I'm trying and praying to be better at separating myself from others for a few minutes while I do this, because I want to hear God.

I think it's good to be regular about quiet time, but I'm afraid that if I start doing it just to get it finished I'll forget the amazing things I just read when I go to do my history homework.

I'm thinking about Mary and Martha, the famous sisters whose actions tend to reflect the attitudes of many Christians.
Luke 10:38-39, "[38] Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. [39] And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word."

Mary sat and listened to Jesus. Martha was (from v. 40) "distracted with much serving." Martha got angry because Mary was not helping her serve Jesus in the kitchen, but Jesus told her that she doesn't need to be so troubled and that Mary was doing the right thing. Quiet time is the time to do exactly what Mary was doing. Sometimes we need to take a moment and just listen. Relationships absolutely cannot survive without healthy communication. We must pray as well as hear Him speaking. His words are full of wisdom, truth, healing, and promises that will be kept, like "I love you."

But what about the serving? Though Martha was wrong to put the serving before the Master, she was not wrong to want to serve. A relationship with Jesus suffers not only from a dull, inattentive quiet time life but also from an inactive, disobedient lifestlye.

It's not enough to just say we believe in Jesus and to associate with Christian people. Christianity is discipleship, not a hobby. It's Jesus as Lord, not Jesus as a buddy. This is something we all need to remember. In Luke 6:46 Jesus asks "But why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do the things which I say?" What kind of message does it send non-Christians when even those whose lives He has utterly transformed, or who claim He has changed them, do not obey Him? A bad one.

The FISH club has been praying for revival at Stanton. We pray for boldness to share Christ with our friends and for a revolution to occur on our campus. What I learned from Pastor Ryan's message on Wednesday is that we need to actually go about obeying Him, whatever it takes, and then we will actually grow in our relationship with Christ because of it. If He is our Lord, we will act like it. And if we act like He is our Lord, He is going to be so present and so real in our lives that we begin to know Him more personally and to serve Him more faithfully.

This week I invited someone to church, and although she found out she could not come she was sincerely glad that I had invited her. I am encouraged by this because a lot of the time I am nervous to ask anyone to go anywhere, What will she say? What will he think? But no - many people actually want to come.

And shouldn't we want them to come? People aren't going to make it without Jesus. The branches that are apart from Him with wither away and be burned up. Any of us would be. But instead we can be attached to this True Vine who promises that if we stay with Him we will bear much fruit, and that He will come and stay with us and never leave. We will be with Him forever.

John 14:22-23 "[22] Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, 'Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?' [23] Jesus answered and said to him, 'If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.'"

Romans 8:38-39 "[38] For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor thigns to come, [39] nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

He wants a relationship with us that will last forever. We are the bride of Christ. This is a relationship worth maintaining, a relationship worth letting it take over our very lives. And it will be worth it to know God.