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Apart from living in Christ, our only understanding of our time is that it belongs to us. We may classify the ways in which we spend our time between things we like to do and want to do, verses things we are obligated to do. The things we enjoy are more likely to be categorized as our time. Things we don't necessarily enjoy might include work, school, chores, and even visiting family and friends. We speak in terms of what we "have to" do when we are spending our time on things that deep down we wish we could get out of. We may say that we "get to" do the things we enjoy. What we don't think about is spending time with Jesus because we don't know Jesus and we really are not interested in him. We have better things to do with our time. Though we may divide our time up between the things we have to do and the things we get to do, none of our time is given to Jesus because we neither have to spend time with him, nor do we want to spend time with him. From our perspective, the things we spend our time doing and the amount of time we spend doing those things is our own business and nobody else's business. It is especially not Jesus? business.
How it comes about that some people begin to spend a little time with Jesus varies between individuals. But what is starting to happen in the person who moves on toward maturity in Christ is that time is now being spent pursuing Jesus. It is quite possible that we may not think of it in terms of pursing Jesus. In fact, we may not even take Jesus into account at this point. Nevertheless, the person who becomes a disciple of Jesus is likely to proceed through this phase regarding how much time is spent with Jesus. For some of, we may have had sporadic encounters with Jesus and his disciples. For example, there are some of us numbered among the mature Christian population who went through a season in which we approached Jesus only at Christmas and Easter. Maybe it was for the sake of family or because it seemed like the right thing to do. We really didn't see the true significance of either holy day, but we went. For others who mature as disciples, the opportunity to draw near to Jesus comes in the midst of a crisis. Something is happening in our life and we don't know where else to turn. We reach the end of our rope and cry out to God. We may even try to bargain with God, not realizing that God is not interested in bargaining with us, but in our knowing His love and loving Him in return. The crisis may be a turning point in our life in which we begin to follow Jesus. Or it may turn out to be temporary and we return to business as usual once the crisis has passed. For those who do go on in growth, this phase of life and the choices we make in this time, shows that we don't spend much time at all with Jesus. Our time with him is limited and at best it is sporadic. We approach Jesus perhaps out of duty, need, or even with a twinge of interest or curiosity. But we don't spend much time with Jesus because there in our mind there is no need to do so and we really don't want to.
As our focus shifts more and more to the things of Christ, though we may not yet know him and love him, we are being drawn to him. Because Jesus is drawing us, we find ourselves spending more and more time with Jesus. When our time is looked at from a high level view we seem to be less sporadic and perhaps even pretty consistent in how much time we spend from week to week and perhaps year to year. If our time with Jesus were to be described, it could be said that we visit with Jesus periodically as we might with a friend or family member. We check in with Jesus and his disciples from time to time. Sometimes even spending a few hours in a day or on rare occasions a whole day or weekend with them. We enjoy our time with Jesus and his disciples, which is why we are spending more time with him. Nevertheless, our focus in not entirely on Jesus. We still consider our time to be our time and we measure out the amount of time we want to spend based on how we feel about what we will be doing and what other alternatives there are for us. Certainly there may be some patterns we have established. For example, we may be in church on most Sundays. There may be activities we are involved in during the week. But still, there will be things that get our attention and draw us away from time to time. When those do draw us away, we might miss our Jesus based activity because of the enjoyment we get out of it, but we are not really thinking about that while we are engaged in whatever it is that has us away. Not only are we periodic regarding the time we spend with Jesus and his disciples in the activities occurring within the body of believers, but we may also be spending a little time with Jesus during the week apart from church related events. It is our spending so little time with Jesus on our own that indicates that we are still only periodic followers. When we have time to ourselves, what do we do? Perhaps some form of entertainment. Or some way of fulfilling a desire. In seeking after our own pleasure. We are focused on ourselves more than on Jesus. We are not consistent when we are on our own. We are seeing a shift in how we spend our time, but the truth is that Jesus is not our deepest desire. We do not delight ourselves in the Lord. We pursue the desires of our heart. Yes, sometime what we desire is to spend time with Jesus and his disciples. But that is not our primary desire. We may be lacking consistency or we may be showing some type of consistency as it relates to the church and our time during the week. Yet it isn't the consistency that marks us as periodical followers of Jesus. The evidence that we are periodic followers is that our heart is not wholly committed to Jesus. We still spend our time on what we want to do. Jesus is not our top priority. We are still our own top priority. Even though this is where we are at this time, if we are moving on towards maturity, we will not remain focused on ourselves.
Growth in Christ becomes more evident as we begin to be disciplined about spending time with Jesus on a daily basis. Initially, we have to choose to discipline ourselves. We may struggle with starts and stops, but there is a growing desire to know Jesus more intimately and to follow him more closely. We may feel frustrated. We may seek help from a pastor or friend. We may try different approaches to the spiritual disciplines practiced by followers throughout the history of the Church. Though we keep feeling like we are falling short, inside we are being drawn to Jesus. It does take disciple at first. But in time, we apply discipline and spending time with Jesus becomes more natural to us. In fact, spending time with Jesus is what we look forward to each day. We may not be fully focused yet, but we are clearly committed to seeking to follow Jesus. In this time of growth we will discover what a regular devotional time with Jesus looks like in our life. It is likely that there will be changes in what we do in this time and how we do it, but the time is now a fixed part of our lives. We are learning how to live each day in Christ. We are also finding that our time with Jesus is increasing. We may be spending more time doing devotions, but what's more is that we are now recognizing Jesus more and more throughout our day and calling on him more and more. We are learning to walk in the Spirit and seeing the fruit of the Spirit being born in our lives time and time again. This is happening because we are spending more time with Jesus and thus the Lord has more time to speak to us and through us.
It could be that there is a clear shift in our lives when we surrender all to Jesus and find that we are living in constant fellowship with him. Or, it could be that we grow into such a state as we make more and more choices to spend time with him. Whatever the means that God uses to bring us to the point of Christian maturity, the result is the same. We seek the Lord's leading in all we do because we want to glorify Him. Sometimes we inquire prayerfully for God's guidance and direction. Other times we simply know what to do because we know God's heart having spent time over the years in prayer, reading the Bible, loving others, and walking with the Lord daily. All that we do is in the Lord and for the Lord. Sometime we may be conscious of the Lord's presence. Other times we may live for him without having to consciously think about him for we know he dwells in us. What's more, our abiding in Christ and his abiding in us seems so effortless. We enjoy our alone times with Christ each day. It is a joy to spend time with his disciples as well. We get such joy out of spreading the good news of Christ to those who need to hear it. In all that we say and do, we do it for the glory of God. We are not worn out because it is not our own strength or effort. We are walking with the Lord and in his strength. Oh what joy it is to be in Christ. All of our time is spent continuing the work of Christ. Though others may not be able to see it, Christ sees and knows because all of our time is spent in fellowship with him. Our time is not our own for we have been bought with a price. And that is not a burden or an obligation, but is freedom in Christ. It is the joy of an intimate relationship with our Lord. It defies logic and is beyond expression. It is seen by Christ in the amount of time we spend with him, which if it were to be measured would be understood to be 24 hours a day, every day without end. Oh the joy to be in Christ.
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