“The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God.”
Galatians 2:20
One of the most difficult and yet simplest concepts in the Christian life is looking to Jesus as the answer to all our problems. It is difficult because, in this modern era, we tend to think of peace, joy, happiness as abstract commodities. We want peace in a pill, joy in a shot and happiness in a bottle. Why? Because, a pill has no personality or makes no demands on us. A shot calms our nerves without creating obligations to or complications with a real person. We just want the feeling… with no strings attached. Yet, life never works that way. For example, can you have just the feeling of love unless it is attached to a person? Can you have the feeling of accomplishment without seeing something actually accomplished? No. The feeling is the function of the relationship.
The simplicity of the concept revolves around a one-on-one relationship with Jesus in which we are not required to analyze what a particular feeling is all about. The feeling and the relationship are one and the same. In life, the love, joy and meaning we experience come from healthy family relationships. It doesn’t take a psychologist or psychiatrist to in order to apprehend the actual feeling or sensation that we desire. It is the same as we serve God. We simply invest into our relationship with Jesus Christ and he does all the rest.
For several years, my Dad worked at a machine shop about two blocks away from our house so he walked to work and back. I have warm memories of hearing his whistle as he came down the sidewalk, coming home from work. I would run out to meet him and he would grab me and swing me around, then fling me over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes. It was like everything was okay now because “Daddy’s home!”
There is an old song that says: “Many things about tomorrow; I don’t seem to understand; But I know who holds tomorrow; And I know He holds my hand.” It’s time to remind ourselves that much of our search for complex answers to our problems are met in Christ. We may not understand the dynamics of love, joy or happiness, but, if we are in a healthy relationship with Jesus, these intangibles materialize as part of the package. And even beyond this, if we hold his hand, he not only provides these feelings, he becomes the feeling! He becomes the love, joy and happiness. It is in this sense that Jesus really is the answer!
Look at the richness of your relationship to Christ.
Col 1:12-19 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: 14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: 15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;
True Christianity happens when we walk and live in this relationship.
Col 2:6-10 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: 7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. 8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. 9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
Jesus, then, is the ongoing answer to all of life’s twists and turns. The answer is not to be separate from Christ, an addition to Christ, a substitute for Christ or the absence of Christ. The answer is always found in a deeper relationship with Christ.
When you are in pain and agony.
Luke 22:44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
When you need someone to understand what you are going through.
Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities;
When you are greatly tempted by the world.
Heb 4:15-16 but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
When you need protection.
Ps 33:20 Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield.
John 10:11-15 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. 12 But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. 13 The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. 15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.
When you need peace.
Eph 2:12-14 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: 13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. 14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
When you need love.
1 John 4:16-17 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. 17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
When you facing life alone.
Heb 13:5-6 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. 6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
When you feel destitute and poor.
Lam 3:21-24 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. 22 It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. 24 The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
When it seems that you don’t have a life.
Phil 3:7-14 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; 11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. 12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Homework:
- Give your life some thought.
- Zero in on the pressure points, the sore spots and the glaring problems that you deal with on a daily basis.
- Ask yourself whether or not you are substituting something or someone other than Jesus for the answer.
- Study the Word and pray in order to determine what aspect of your relationship with Christ is underdeveloped.
Jesus is the answer!