How do we be more intimate with Jesus than any human relationship? In continuation of last week’s post, it’s something worth considering. Obviously we grow closer with Christ through regular habits or time spent with Him. That might mean prayer, reading the Bible, songs, reading other books, a nature walk, or however you connect with Him. But still how do we connect with an unseen spiritual Being more so than other humans?! Let me suggest five ways that will help you connect with Christ.
1. Resist Spiritual Lethargy…by remembering our love for Him and His for us.
We all struggle with not only skipping time with Jesus here and there, but normalizing skipping it. Song of Solomon chapter 5 deals with this issue of “spiritual lethargy” as George Burrows puts it in his commentary on the book. In that chapter, Christ shows up, but the woman is too tired to meet with him. When she finally gets up, He’s gone. Then she looks for Him, but He’s nowhere to be found. We’ve all been there spiritually, not prioritizing time with Jesus.
I went to a new bagel shop recently in New York City for breakfast. The woman asked for a name for the order. Then she asked how to spell it, “one C or two C’s?”
I responded, “it doesn’t matter” thinking we weren’t building a long term relationship.
She let out a slightly disappointed sigh and responded with a very firm, “it matters to me.”
It matters to me.
Those four words told me that not only did the spelling of my name matter to her, but I mattered to her, a total stranger! Later, as I was driving home, I noticed my bag had an extra bagel in it. I fully believe they did not intend to do that, but Jesus did. Jesus used that extra bagel and the lady caring about the spelling of my name to let me know He saw me and cared about me. I mattered to Him. It drew me to Him.
2. Train for Success
“Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever“ (1 Corinthians 9:25).
The part of this that gets me is the “strict training” part. How easy is it to lean on God’s grace and forgiveness and get lax in our own spiritual training?
I recently ran a half marathon. Well, I entered the race anyway. About mile 8, I hit a wall and started walking. This was not the type of race that supports walkers. They only stopped traffic long enough for runners, not for walkers. So somewhere between mile 8 and 9, traffic opened up and I feared getting hit by a car. I thought back to my training. I realized I had a good plan for training, but really only followed through with it about half of the time. I realized in that moment the importance of training! It also made me reflect on my relationship with Christ and how often I do not do the daily habits of training myself spiritually. Pastor Mark Vroegop used to say, “the trouble with the spiritual life is that it’s so daily.” When we do not daily train our spiritual faculties, we often do not have what it takes when the big spiritual battles come. That reminds me of our next point.
3. Protect Against the Enemy & Remember it’s a Battle
I recently went to an art museum that had various suits of armor. The Bible says you are to “put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes” (Ephesians 6:11). Then the Bible goes into detail describing each piece of armor and how that relates to our spiritual lives.
As I gazed upon the suits of armor I thought about how secure they looked, how protective. No sword could penetrate it. The fighter was well prepared and well protected for battle. Likewise, we must remember that we are always in a spiritual battle. Again, I’ll quote Pastor Mark Vroegop as he often reminded his church to act more like a battleship than a cruise ship.
So how do we protect our relationship with Christ against temptation? Beyond putting on the full armor of God, we must look to our next point.
4. Remember Marriage Verses as an illustration for our relationship with Christ
The Bible is real and it recognizes the sexual temptations people face. So it gives married couples in particular some advice along those lines in regards to maintaining regular intimacy as a means of protection against such temptation.
“Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control” (1 Corinthians 7:5).
In other words: just as a marriage is protected from temptation when the couple has regular intimacy, so regular meeting with Christ equips us against the enemy’s attacks as well. But it all sounds so hard! It is. That’s why we need this last piece.
5. Lean on the Holy Spirit
Of course we cannot follow God perfectly. Of course we are going to mess up and give into spiritual lethargy. We need continual spiritual revival (Burrows, Song of Solomon chapter 5). We also need strength to keep going, despite falling short. However, with the Holy Spirit’s help, we can succeed spiritually! Not by our own strength, but by the grace of God (Zechariah 4:6). When you miss the mark, confess quickly and get back in the game. Just as the best athletes recover from mistakes quickly, so we should as followers of Christ. Run back to your Lord and Savior. Stay close. But when you stray, hustle back. Trust His Spirit to give you what you need to follow Him.
As clear as mud? PRAY my Friend, for God to give you what you need to persevere in your walk with Him. Need Friends for encouragement? Pray for that! And when you get knocked down, get up quick!*
*As Jen Wilkin has once said.
