A Person, Not a Cause

(01/24/03 journal entry)

I am praying to experience the dynamic Christian life that I know is available. I want to live the adventure of faith, I want to become inseparable from Jesus. I want the power of his Spirit moving daily in my life. I want to experience joy and peace that passes all understanding. I want to live with power to be a witness. I want to know Jesus in the most personal, intimate way. I want to be proactive and aggressive in my pursuit after Jesus. I want to pray for hours early in the morning and for hours late into the night. I want to live a life that is constantly sowing the Word of God because I am always talking about him. I want Jesus to be the consuming thought in my mind, the driving force in my life.

I am convinced more and more that the key to the abandoned, fulfilled, dynamic Christian life lies in devotion to the person of Jesus. Oswald Chambers says, "It is not enough to give mental assent to the fact that God has redeemed the world, nor even to know that the Holy Spirit can make all that Jesus did a reality in my life. I must have the foundation of a personal relationship with him... there would be nothing [in Paul's life] without a personal relationship. Paul was devoted to a Person, not a cause."

It is imperative that I live in devotion to the person of Jesus, not just a cause. It is imperative that I keep calling my youth to devotion to the person of Jesus, not just his cause.