I’ve been pondering something lately. A comment was made to me a few weeks ago that during the years of Jesus’ ministry on earth, whenever He responded to people, it was because they had come to Him.  When the people came, He met them.

I really began to roll that around in my head and think about the implications of that truth.  We don’t read stories where Jesus is running through the streets yelling, “Come out if you want to get healed!” He never tells John, “Go round up a crowd for me, I have a story to tell.” They didn’t put up posters, “Jesus Crusade – on the western shores of the Sea of Galilee.”

The people desiring to meet Jesus, to hear His wisdom, to be in His presence, and to receive healing came to Him.  Think about the women who had been bleeding of years, the paralyzed man and his four friends, the demon-possessed man, the blind, the weak, the lepers, Jairus and others.  The crowds gathered wherever Jesus went to hear His truth and wisdom.  Those desiring a touch from Christ came to where He was.

Jesus didn’t force Himself on people. He didn’t make them come. And He doesn’t work that way today.

So I began to wonder, are we missing out on the abundance of life that Jesus offers in Him because we are waiting for Him to “show up?” Have we come to the place where we believe that if we just go through the motions, Jesus will mysteriously shower Himself upon us?

Jesus has already told us that He will never leave us.  He has told us that when we gather in His name, He is already there.  He has told us that if we ask the Father for the Holy Spirit, we will receive.  He has told us that if we ask, seek, and knock, it will be given, we will find it, and the door will be opened.

If I want to experience the fullness of Christ in my life so that the Kingdom of God will be present through me, I have to initiate.  I have to want it.  I have to come to Jesus. As I submit to Him, He will meet me along with my hurts, my baggage, my pain, and my weary soul.

How many times have you heard someone say after a worship gathering, “I didn’t feel the presence of the Lord today.  Jesus just wasn’t here.” Beyond the theological issues with that statement, could the reality be that we didn’t want to hear Jesus that day? That the Holy Spirit wasn’t given freedom to work and minister because we hadn’t opened our hearts and called out to Him? That we were closed?

Can it really be that simple? Can we really experience every spiritual blessing that God has promised through Jesus? I’ll simply leave you with this statement to ponder: “draw close to God and He will draw close to you” (James 4:8).