Ignoring Confusion That Comes With Following Jesus

When we begin seeking a personal relationship with Jesus, we often struggle to remain focused on our faith while ignoring confusion. This feeling can be hard to discuss with the fear that we are different from others. We fear that our faith is not as strong as it could be. At least, that was the case for me.I had grown up believing in God. I was aware of what he could accomplish on the cross, and I knew Him as my Lord and Savior. But there had never been a level of intimacy with Him. There was no relationship at all. I would ask for things I thought I needed and thanked him for my family's safety, but that was as far as things went concerning my prayer life.

Connecting with Scripture

When someone introduced me to the idea of living in a relationship with God, life wasn't exactly what I wanted it to be. I was staying at a faith-based recovery home for alcoholics and about ten days into sobriety. God had blessed me by putting a man in my life who started teaching me how to read the Bible in a way that would show me how I could apply scripture to my daily life.For me, this included writing. I would read through my Bible and highlight all of the verses that caught my attention. When I was finished reading, I said a prayer, asking Jesus to show me how to use what I'd just read, pick one of the verses I had marked, and then start writing. During one of these sessions, I read something that simplified connecting with Jesus on a personal level.

Applying God's Word

John 1:38 Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?

Like myself, the two men Jesus question had just begun following Him. They knew He was the Son of God, but other than that. I am sure there had to be a lot of confusion. What was going to happen next? How were they supposed to act? Shouldn’t the thoughts that ran through their mind be different now than they had been before?God’s Word speaks to each of us differently at various times in our life. What this verse means to me might be completely different from what it means to you, and that is perfectly fine. We all have a personal relationship with Jesus, so it only makes sense that His word would have a different effect on each of us.

Related Post: How To Hear God's Voice

As I mentioned earlier, I was pretty confused when I first started following Jesus. I hadn’t experienced much change at that point in my life, and it led me to feel like I had done something wrong, like I wasn’t believing or trying hard enough. But this question Jesus asked changed everything.I didn’t even finish reading that day. I immediately stopped and began writing. Jesus asked a question, and I wanted to come up with an answer. “What are you seeking?” Although most of my answers are different today than they were back then, determining what I wanted to experience in my relationship with Jesus gave me something to talk to Him about while praying. It opened both my eyes and my heart to the changes that began happening in my life. Most importantly, it led me to fall in love with Jesus!

What Are You Looking for?

So, what are you seeking? Regardless of how new you are to a relationship with Jesus, what do you want to experience along the journey? Don’t just come up with vague answers you think your childhood Sunday school teacher would want to see, be authentic. Intimacy is an ingredient in any relationship, and to achieve this with Jesus, we must be willing to open our hearts to Him.By telling Him what we are seeking, we tell Him exactly how to make His presence known in our lives.