05/06/2025
We don't find Jesus through an academic study of scripture nearly as much as scripture is revealed to us while walking with Him. Don’t each of us remember a time when we were mired down in our study of the Bible to the point that we couldn’t touch the living Christ there? But, once we have met Him in the gospel, doesn’t He bring the whole of scripture alive for us and set us free in it.
“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”
Galatians 5:1 ESV
There are different reasons that people get isolated from Jesus by scripture. Two of the most common are first... that they study the Word to prove their opinion of religion is the sole truth, and second is that they study to find freedom and life in the Word at the expense of a loving relationship with God and His Son. In other words, they either look to God’s Word to validate themselves, or to earn their own salvation by following a recipe by combining their own ingredients, and efforts, to make it happen. This can happen in either starchy or emotional worship; in high church services or emotion filled praise meetings.
“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.”
John 5:39-40 ESV
When people lose their zeal for Jesus it is always associated with becoming frustrated in the Word, and not because their relationship with Christ has failed them. When we set boundaries on our faith by attempting to limit it to the pages of the Bible alone… like we would a legal document. If we do this then we never truly have a relationship at all... we have a legal union or contract of worship.
I have met quite a few couples who married in their youth because "it was the thing to do" and "all their friends were doing it." Some of them stayed together for many years and even had children, but one thing was always missing... a loving relationship. Then when hard times came, their pride and jealousy got in the way of their marriage. The children were gone, or the promise of true love came along, and they slid hopelessly into divorce. The foundation of a loving relationship that would have prevented all of this was not there. Interestingly enough, after one or two more failed attempts at marriage they would look back and wish that they had never left their first partner… and would wish that they had nurtured a lasting and loving relationship together instead of a narrow and unfulfilling one.
When people fall away from Jesus it is much the same; they do so because what they thought of as faith, was in fact a contract they were attempting to establish and hold God and Jesus to. They never nurtured the abiding love that would have grown them in relationship and a deeper faith. The graduates of many divinity schools find themselves trapped in such relationships... lost in a religious contract, and floundering in worship that is devoid of relationship. They know of Jesus, but don’t really know Him intimately.
Years ago I was a double major in Biology and English. Biology satisfied the interest in nature and science that I had, and English brought the world alive to me by revealing my emotion within everything around me. In the beginning I studied life and painstakingly studied Shakespeare. But as I read and studied literature more intimately something wonderful happened, I found that I was becoming aware of the world around me and even seeing God more clearly in that world. The academic study of Shakespeare was always tough, but I found that poetry allowed me to feel and express the love I was feeling just like what Shakespeare said was more important than how he said it. The relationship I was experiencing with Jesus had found its voice in me, and this helped me to grow in Him.
In the years that followed, I married, fathered children, felt great joys and deep suffering, but in the process I found a much deeper faith, and in everything about me I began to see the hand of God... in all of creation I saw that poetry was being expressed. I know songwriters who compose songs the same way that I read and write poetry... full of life, love, and spirituality. The Bible too is composed of much poetry and song... David writes and sings moving poetry to God in Psalms.
We need to nurture our relationships. We need to find a way of saying I love you that changes our heart and soul. Words and contracts lead us there, but it takes much more than that before a relationship blossoms and life, and love, flows out of it. Loving our spouse and Jesus are so similar... Paul tells the Corinthians about the importance of love in our faith and in life... and his writing is still true today. A relationship with Jesus, or our spouse, is lost without it. So, let's read what Paul wrote about love...
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 ESV
When we love our spouse then every aspect of our lives together will come alive. When we love Jesus then the Word of God comes to life too. Do you understand this now? Are you ready to enter into a deeper and more intimate relationship with God and Jesus Christ? Let’s think about this over the course of our day… how scripture teaches us about who Yahweh is, an omnipotent and omnipresent God, and isn’t meant to limit us and our worship of Him to a narrow view of Him. Are we making our understanding of Him into an idol that we can see and touch more easily?
“To whom then will you liken God,
or what likeness compare with him?
An idol! A craftsman casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and casts for it silver chains.”
Isaiah 40:18-20 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for loving me. I pray this morningthat I am able to love you and your Son Jesus with all my heart. Never let the rough stretches of life's road separate us, and when our relationship is strained, give me your gentle touch to reestablish my love and faith in you. Your heart never loses its desire for me... so let mine feel the same way towards you. As my love for Jesus grows, open your Word to me in new and deeper ways. Show me your heart and your desire for me as I read and study your Word. Holy Father, your Word is more than a contract between yourself and mankind, it is an expression of love that leads us to salvation, and eternity within you. Your Word shows us the ups and downs of life and faith, but it always demonstrates your steadfast love for us... never let my love abandon you, nor lose sight of Jesus and the sacrifice He made for me. Lord, let me love you forever, forevermore, and throughout all eternity. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who was, and is, and is to come. Holy are you who has always loved me and the world… from its conception and the words you spoke that served to establish it. Your love, mercy, and grace are the very elements and composition of all eternity and have existed always. Your character abides in me as you do, and just as I, along with Jesus, come to abide in you. I worship you Lord and praise you in my prayers. Hear me now as I seek to honor and glorify you in all I say and do. Hear my voice as I sing to you like David, and call out before the throne with the heavenly host.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Amen!
“Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ. For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him.”
Ephesians 1:3-4 CSB
Rich Forbes