Personal Relationship With Jesus
A TV preaching that heard recently ended his message by asking for people who did not have a Personal Relationship With Jesus to respond. He then led them in a “sinner’s prayer.”
Modern preachers use the phrase “Personal Relationship With Jesus” so frequently that we have forgotten what it means, and never ponder if it actually makes sense at all. I see several problems with the term.
One purpose of the term is to distinguish evangelical Christians from legalistic religion, or ritualistic religion. Yet once the preacher had identified those who wanted a Personal Relationship With Jesus and led them in a sinner’s prayer, he gave them a set of four rules to follow.
- Pray every day
- Read the Bible
- Go to church
Why do we need the word “personal” in the phrase? Aren't all relationships personal? A relationship that is not personal is probably not a relationship. So the term “personal” is redundant.
Jesus never told people that they needed to have a Personal Relationship With Him. He called them to be disciples and obey his teaching. He commanded them to obey him, because they loved him.
Jesus explained to his disciples that he was going away, so their existing relationship with them, whatever it was, would end. He promised that the Holy Spirit would come and that he would teach them to obey Jesus, but that would be a totally different relationship.
A personal relationship is not a political relationship. Jesus is a Messiah/King. His disciples called him “Lord”. So the relationship with Jesus is a political relationship. We relate to him in a servant/master relationship, so it is misleading to describe it as a personal relationship.
Paul did not tell the readers of his letters to have a Personal Relationship With Jesus. He talked about fellowship with the Holy Spirit (2 Cor 13:14), but we have forgotten what the term “fellowship” means. Friendship is the closest word to the meaning of fellowship, yet I have never heard a preacher telling people that they should become a friend of Jesus.
The television preacher told his listeners that they should go to church. I presume to develop their Personal Relationship With Jesus. However, I am not sure that is correct. I don’t develop a relationship with a famous person that I don’t know by:
- reading a book about the person.
- listening to people singing songs about the person.
- listening to a man talking about the person.
Reading a person’s biography is not the same as getting to know them personally. To do that, I would have to be involved in their life in some way. So reading the bible is not a guarantee that a person will get to know Jesus personally.
Prayer is important: a few people enjoy it, but most people find it really hard. Many struggle and fail. So if prayer is the key to developing a Personal Relationship With Jesus, then it is not surprising that many church attendees are not sure if they have one.
People can appropriate the rescue that Jesus provided without becoming his best friend. They have done it throughout history.
My Experience
What has this been like for me?
I have been a follower of Jesus for fifty years. I call myself that because that seems to be the nature of the relationship. He is the leader, and I am the follower. (A follower does not have to be the best friend of their leader).
I think of myself as a friend of the Holy Spirit. He is the one who speaks to me. I get this quiet inner witness that I have learned the way that he speaks. I talk to him and give him permission to do things in my life and in the places where I exercise influence/authority. He is the one who acts, so it makes sense to talk to him directly.
I do not ask Jesus to do things. But I ask him to show me what he wants me to do. But it is usually the Holy Spirit who does that. And I often apologise to Jesus for not doing what he asked me to do.
I do not ask our father to do things very often. He knows better than me what needs to be done. My role is to give him permission to do it.
I love Jesus because of who he is and the wonderful things that he has done. For him to leave his place in the spiritual realms and become a human is amazing. For him to be willing to die on a cross for humans who had rejected him is mind-blowing generosity. So I love Jesus and tell him that he is wonderful.
This is a relationship of awe and wonder. I am not sure if this is the Personal Relationship with Jesus that the preacher was talking about. I love reading the Bible, but that is probably because I have an intellectual bent and a curious mind. I have learned a huge amount about who Jesus is and what he has done, but I also know that this does not automatically translate into a relationship with Jesus (although it can help).
I suspect that many Christians don’t have a Personal Relationship With Jesus like the TV preacher promises, but they pretend to have one, because they are unwilling to admit how tonight it is to be a follower of Jesus.
Challenge
I don’t like the expression Personal Relationship With Jesus. I know what the TV preacher is trying to say, but I don’t think his listeners really understand what he is offering them.
I presume that most of the preacher’s listeners are not sure how to obtain the Personal Relationship With Jesus that they are supposed to have. And I suspect that many preachers do not really know how to teach them about achieving it, either.
Followers of Jesus are called to share his message with a new generation of people who are unchurched. The expression Personal Relationship With Jesus does not mean much to them.
We will need to find more effective ways to communicate the gospel (even word is not very useful now). We will need to find better ways to describe what Jesus has done and how we appropriate it. We will have to find better ways to describe how we can follow him by communicating with his Holy Spirit.
Question
Tell me what it has been like for your in the comments. But be honest, do not pretend to look good.
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