Be With Jesus

We have often heard the adage that we must be before we do. What we do does not determine who we are in God. Meaning God loves us not on the basis of what we do for Him. But rather, He loves us for the worth He sees in us despite our fallen nature. We are made in His image and intrinsically we carry something of His nature. The understanding of who we are is the foundation to our life on earth as we answer His call to serve Him.

Doing defines us. Or putting it another way, we do because we are. One of the amazing privileges we have as His children is to serve God and people. We are created to do good works. (Eph 2:10) Once we discover who we are, created to bear fruit in every good work (Col 1:10), we live out that calling. I am challenged by John Wesley: “Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.” We don’t serve to gain favour. We serve because that’s who we are.

As we do that faithfully, there is a tendency over time to serve not out of our being, but our doing. We get weary and burdened, eventually leading to burnout. “We cannot make up for failure in our devotional life by redoubling energy in service. We shall never take people beyond our own spiritual attainment.” (William Griffith Thomas)

One of the keys to a consistent and life-long effective ministry is to discover what the apostles were doing in their spiritual lives. I am intrigued by a verse in the book of Acts on one such key. Peter, who was with John, was instrumental in the healing of a lame beggar in Acts 3. Crowds were attracted to this incredible miracle of this lame man “walking and jumping, and praising God.” (Acts 3:8) In Acts 4, Peter preached to the onlookers about the Messiah, which greatly disturbed the priests, captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees. They seized Peter and John and put them in jail until the next day. They were brought before the Sanhedrin, which is the supreme judicial and ecclesiastical council of ancient Jerusalem. In that exchange, here’s what the priests said. “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13)

How did they know that Peter and John had been with Jesus? I wish Luke had spelt out the criteria of that observation. Would people around say the same about us who are too disciples of Jesus? Not so much about what we have done, but that we have been with Jesus. They were trained from the onset of their calling by Jesus in that way. “Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach ¹⁵ and to have authority to drive out demons.” (Mark 3:13-15)

What does it mean to be with Him? It is a relational call of making time for the One who is our Friend, Brother, Saviour and God. We cannot have any meaningful relationship without making time for each other. To be with Him is to make regular time to read His Word and have a two-way conversation. It is not about putting a tick on our daily to-do list for our devotions and prayer time of presenting our request list. It is not merely functional. At the heart of it is relational. The hazard of the modern urban life is that we have no time. Yet everyone has 24 hours, no more and no less. We say time is money and we need to be efficient and effective in all that we do so that we don’t waste time. Yet, have you ever thought that we can and should “waste time” with God? We don’t understand the principle that when we hear God clearly of His will for our lives, we actually save time and even from heartaches and disappointments. There is something about being with Jesus that we begin to center our lives around His agenda and not ours, which could be dramatically out of sync with God’s because we are carnal by nature.

To be with Him is the highest calling for the child of God. Apostle Paul understood that when He said “I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.” (Philippians 1:23-24). Here’s that key again. He knew and longed for that intimacy with Christ.

Often I hear Christians asking: “What else do we do in heaven?” That is the wrong question. One day in the new heaven and the new earth, doing is not the heart of existence. “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.” (Revelation 21:3) God will BE with us and He will live amongst us. What makes heaven “heaven” then? It's about who we will BE with. With Him and with His people. Heaven is all about relationships. What we will do thereafter for eternity will be unimaginable creativity and joy being in existence.

Therefore, learning to be with Him on earth is a practice run! In the light of all that is happening around us in our nation, with all the uncertainties, challenges and threats, what gives us hope and clarity is the certainty of God’s Presence in our lives. We are not to be paralysed by the fear of the unknown but as in the example set forth by the apostles, if and when the time comes, we will be known as people who had been with Jesus.

Discipleship towards Christlikeness is a call to know Jesus and to be with Him. It is simply helping another person be with Jesus as you continue to make time to be with Jesus. When we learn to do that, we don’t struggle too much in answering this question: “What is the Holy Spirit saying to you?” To be with Him then is the highest calling!