Growing up, I was a pretty good kid. I got good grades, I didn’t get into too much trouble, and I went to church regularly. Not because I wanted to. But because my parents forced me to go. I liked my friends at church, but I didn’t care much for the music or the message. Going to church didn’t really impact me, change me, or give me a sense of purpose or the divine. But all of that changed for me one day when I experienced something unexpected.
A pastor prayed a simple prayer for me that I would not just know the love of God, but that I would experience it. And as he prayed, I was suddenly overwhelmed by a deep sense of love and the affection of God for me. I had never experienced anything like that before. And it rocked my world. God that I had read about in the Bible became real for me in a whole new way that I couldn’t fully explain. It was the beginning of a spiritual awakening for me. It set the trajectory of my life journey.
If you are skeptical by nature (like me), you might read something like this and explain away my experience as some emotional high that one might taste at a great concert. I’ve been to many concerts, and I’ve had those emotional experiences. But this God experience was something totally different and new for me. As I began to read about followers of Jesus in history, I learned that my experience was not unique at all.
Men and women throughout history experienced a touch of heaven on earth, and their hearts were awakened. The experiences were different for each of them. Some were quiet. Some were extraordinary. But they each encountered the presence of the God. The God they talked about was not somewhere out there, but he was so close and near that you can actually feel him. The God they talked about was not cold and silent, but he cared, he spoke, and he was intimate.
Jesus had intimate conversations in the Bible with the people he encountered. And he still has them today! Here's an example of one conversation from the Bible that Jesus had with a woman he didn't even know:
Jesus came into Sychar, a Samaritan village that bordered the field Jacob had given his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was still there. Jesus, worn out by the trip, sat down at the well. It was noon. A woman, a Samaritan, came to draw water. Jesus said, “Would you give me a drink of water?” (His disciples had gone to the village to buy food for lunch.) The Samaritan woman, taken aback, asked, “How come you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (Jews in those days wouldn’t be caught dead talking to Samaritans.) Jesus answered, “If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water.” – John 4:7-10 (MSG)
Encountering Jesus is where life to the full begins. We love God because he first loved us. The fact is that we love God far less than we think we do, and he loves us far more than we think he does. He doesn’t just tolerate us. He absolutely adores us. He is madly, deeply, passionately in love with you!