Basics of Faith III - Life with Jesus.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009. Christian faith is about living with Jesus. To come to faith is to come to him, to walk with him, to live with him. It means to open our mind and our heart to him.

It is a starting point of faith to tell Jesus that we want to live with him. The New Testament clearly states that after his resurrection and ascension he is everywhere present through his Holy Spirit. “And look, I am going to be with you each and every day, right up until the end of this period of history.” (Matthew 28,20) We can talk to him any time in prayer. Our actions, our words and even our thoughts are an open book to him.

When we come to Jesus we enter a community of love, truth and faith. People of all centuries, of all nations, of all times and a large variety of places have come to him. Sometimes we might be puzzled, since we know prominent Christians, but they do not appear to be representing such a community. We must know that you become a member of the people of Jesus by heart, not by extrinsic processes. And you might be his, but still you insight will be limited, your habits will not change immediately and you will do many things which are wrong and which will hurt other people. The community of Jesus is not a community of perfect people, but of people who are loved deeply by him and who have accepted his love and forgiveness.

Living with Jesus is not an abstract thing, but something very practical. It is a great adventure in the middle of daily life. There are many fascinating things going on as soon as we start to live with him. This “life with Jesus” is different from life with a new domestic animal. It is not just a life next to him. It is a life “with him” in a deep sense. It is more a life where he comes into our heart, our mind and our actions, where he starts to influence everything we are, we feel, we think and we do. He takes over the lead, he becomes our own personal Lord. We start a relationship with him where he is “in us” and we are “in him”. This coincides with the description of the apostles and writers of the New Testament when they speak about faith and about Jesus. With him in our life many things start to change, there is a much greater power in our life than we can ever comprehend and there is much more love, truth and faith growing than we can ever imagine before we start to experience a life with him.

We cannot talk about life with Jesus without the invitation to join it. Come to him, live with him, open your heart. This is the continuing invitation of the New Testament. You will not regret the courageous step to lay your life into his hands! [R.W.E.P., jesusnetwork.eu]

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