We can know the Father as Jesus did. Jesus said anyone who has seen him has seen the Father. The fullness of God dwelt among us in Jesus, as he did in the tabernacle among his people in Israel. "I haven't seen Jesus though," or "I don't feel like he's dwelt with me," you might say. Well...maybe you haven't. Jesus doesn't huff and puff and blow your house down; he stands at the door and knocks. I have a feeling that many of us think we have met Jesus in our head, and yet do not meet with him in our heart. There is a disconnect between what our head knows and what our heart wants. If we claim to have met Jesus, beautiful saviour, author and giver of life, divine counsellor, why do we not make room in our hearts to spend time with him? It shouldn't take any convincing to make time with God (but I will try anyway).
Imagine your dad gives you 1440 dollars every day. Imagine all the things you could do with that money. Some of it you will need for essentials, but with a lot of it, you can do whatever you want. There's only one thing your dad asks for in return, and it's that every day you give him back $20. $20 out of the $1440 that he gives you each day. It's nothing to us but means everything to him. You see, it takes as little as 20 minutes out of 1440 that God graciously gives us every day to meet and experience him. It's not just about spiritual discipline; it's about spiritual listening. The good shepherd's sheep know the sound of his voice, and he is always reaching out to us. Are we listening?
Sometimes our 'quiet times' are not very quiet at all. I wonder if our time with God tends to be more about us than about God. We might mean well, wanting God's best for us, but not realise that there is something even better - God himself.
It is not enough to make time and memorise scripture. The Pharisees did that, and Jesus said they only honour him with their lips, but their hearts are far from him. It's never been about the minutes per day. If you do not like meeting with God now, you will certainly not like an eternity with him. Our remedy to complacency is intimacy, and our road to intimacy begins with discipline, and yet discipline cannot exist without desire. A desire for Jesus does not come naturally to us because of our sin and our hard hearts, but by God's grace we were saved, and by God's grace we are transformed. Reset your affections upon Jesus daily, delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
