Intimacy with Jesus.

Jeremiah 29:13 states, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” I need to choose to seek God with my whole heart. This can’t be a half-hearted approach. I have to go all-in. I can’t hold anything back.

In order to obtain intimacy with Christ, I need to purposefully remove things from my life that will hinder my relationship with him. I need to choose what is best.

God invites me in James 4:8 to "Draw near to God and He will draw near to me.” Drawing near is a choice I make.

I desire an intimate relationship, not a legalistic relationship. Too many people I talk to today treat their relationship with Jesus like one more thing to scratch off their to-do list each day. They read their Bible – check. They prayed this morning – check. They have reduced their relationship with God to a meaningless list of dos and don’ts. And that’s all there really is to their daily Christian life. They have completely missed the purpose that God has for them. There’s no seeking, no yearning, no meditating, no intimacy.

Intimacy with Jesus can be intimidating. When I get close to Jesus, I can’t hide my inadequacies or my sin. He knows me completely. When I come into His presence, all of a sudden I see everything that is wrong and nasty about my life. Sometimes it is easier to flee than to pursue intimacy. And Satan doesn’t help things. He tells me that I am unworthy. He tells me that I am not good enough and that I need to get my act together. When the truth is I can’t do it myself. I have to allow Jesus to work in me and through me.

Pursing intimacy with my Savior may require me to leave my comfort zone. It may require me to do things that I never really thought about before or things I never wanted to do before. It may be a struggle, but it is what I need to do. I need to lay aside anything that would hinder me from this pursuit.

I need to spend time seeking what the Lord’s desires and purposes are for me. Then ask myself if I am truly interested in the same thing? If not, why not? Am I interested in a relationship with the Lord or am I only interested in what he can do for me? If I am only interested in what he can do for me, then what I really want is the “genie in the bottle” who grants my wishes, not the God of the universe who wants what is best for me.

In Luke 10, Jesus tells Martha that she is worried about many things, but that only one thing is needed. What was that one thing? Intimacy with Jesus. This is still true today. My day can become filled with so many things to do that it easy to overlook that “one thing”. And yet, it is the “one thing” that I must not overlook. It is the “one thing” that will get me through my daily struggles. It is the “one thing” that I need. It changes my heart and empowers my life. It keeps me from being overwhelmed. I need to lay everything else aside and make sure I focus on that “one thing” every day of my life.