Having Christ or Experiencing Christ

You will never know the fullness of Christ until you know the emptiness of everything but Christ.

C. H. Spurgeon

There is a difference between having all of Christ and experiencing all of Christ. Jesus Christ never gives you only a portion of Himself. He holds nothing back in a relationship. God loves no one on the face of this earth more than you. There is no one who edges you out when it comes to importance and priorities before the throne. It is probably important to say here that you don’t edge anyone else out either. Our Heavenly Father is probably the only parent who can truly and completely say, “I love them all equally, but differently.”

Our own experience in relationships is somewhat different though. Remember the first time you asked someone out for a date? For most of us that was a pretty scary event. We thought the person would say yes. Our friends had been in contact with their friends and all the signals had come back good. However, there was that nagging doubt, something that may cause the whole thing to fall apart at the last second. It could be anything from some social or fashion blunder to bad breath or not being “in” or “cool”, whatever that might mean!

Jesus Christ is the one who loved you before you ever were conceived. Your face was in his mind; your name was on his lips when he died upon that cross. We do not have to worry about His commitment to us. He will certainly throw all of Himself at us.

It is in our own ability, or willingness, to throw ourselves into that same experience that creates a feeling of difference, levels, or distance from time to time. Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come in unto him” (Rev. 3:20).

For those who despair, fullness in Christ may be as simple as opening the door all the way. Some of us have always been cautious in our relationships. Christ, who loves without question or hesitancy is asking us to trust him and come as close as we can to returning that love in the same way.

Pastor Craig