EXPLORATION 9 | Saying “Yes” to Jesus – Part One
If we’re honest, when Jesus invites us to “make our home” in him,[1] we struggle to know how to begin this journey.
Yet, how we choose to say “Yes” to Jesus may be the most consequential decision in our Christian lives. At stake here is the difference between an authentic, life-giving friendship with Jesus and a spiritual cul-de-sac (or worse).
Predictably, we default to the familiar, enlisting the approach and tools of our times to build a project. To get results, we take control. We set goals to drive productivity, requiring willpower focused on achievement and demanding efficiency measured by success or failure.
While well-meaning, we soon find ourselves a long way from “home,” far removed from appreciating and welcoming the gift of simply being loved.
This becomes willful so quickly and insidiously that we lose touch with our relationship with grace. It is by no means the end of the world if we find ourselves in such a predicament; I know it well, because for at least a decade I spent most of my days there. God did not forget me while I was trying so desperately to create my own experience of God. And grace, thank God, is not dependent upon our state of mind.[2]
Perhaps being attentive and responsive to Jesus’ love, trusting more in astonishing grace than in our capabilities, is the meaning of the Christian life.
Question
How do you feel right now about living in God’s love? Are you grateful, frustrated, joyful, angry, exuberant, bored, ashamed, at peace, afraid? Use the next few days to honestly present your feelings to God, just as they are, and see how he responds.
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John 15:4-9.
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Gerald May, The Awakened Heart, 137.