Authentic Faith - Week 2, Day 1

Day 1: How Close Do You Want to Be to Christ? 

One day, hopefully, a long time from now, you will be dying. Don't get too sad about it right now. This eventually happens to everyone.

Statistics tell us that most people take a long time to die. I'm told that many people look back on their life and think about what they have accomplished and what they have given their lives to. Some people get to the end of their life with regrets. They say things like, "I wish I would have spent more time with my family," or "I wish I would have taken that risk." Some people have regrets about their relationship with God. I wish I would have taken my relationship with God more seriously. 

I don't want you to get to the end of your life and have the same regret.

Do you know what Jesus' greatest passion was while He lived on this earth? 

It wasn't for people outside the family of God.
It wasn't seeing every person healed.
His greatest passion wasn't even teaching. 

Jesus' greatest passion was to be with His Father. 

Over and over again, we read that Jesus got away from the craziness of life just to spend time with His heavenly father. 

Years ago, I was working on my computer when my youngest daughter Cami, who was four at the time, walked into the room. She was relentless. I am trying to type a coherent thought, and she is unloading one question after another on me. After an "mhmm" and a "yeah," I began to ignore her, kind of hoping she would go away. So, Cameron decided to take it up a notch. She attempted to sit in my lap, making it completely impossible for me to finish what I was doing. I asked her, "Cami, what do you want?" She looked at me with her big blue eyes and said, "I just want to be close to you, Daddy." 

Am I a jerk or what? 

Here is what gets me. God wants to be close to us more than we want to be close to Him. We get so busy doing stuff for God that we don't spend time with God. 

A few years ago, a close friend shared a story with me about a dog named "King." King's master was a little boy who died in some kind of accident. At the graveside funeral, the people noticed that the dog was there. It was unusual because no one brought the dog. The dog had run several miles to get there. 

Later, the neighbors discovered that King was running to his master's grave every single day. Eight years later, a local newspaper did a story about the dog because the dog was still running to his master's grave daily. The article described the attempts people had made to keep the dog in his yard. They had even tried tying the dog up, but King would chew for hours on the rope until his gums were bleeding from running to his master's grave.

Is anyone tearing up over this story? Why are we emotional? It is just a story about a silly dog that doesn't even have a soul. But I have a soul, and I don't take my relationship with God nearly as seriously as King did. 

Today, my question is, are you committed to doing whatever it takes to be close to your Heavenly Father? If you are, you will more than likely end up on your deathbed with very few regrets because no matter what comes your way, you faced it together with God, and I don't think you will ever regret that. 

Time Out: 

1. Are you committed to doing whatever it takes to be close to your Heavenly Father?

2. What do you do daily that keeps you close to God?

3. What are some new things you could do that would cause you to draw closer to God?

4. Look up Mark 1:35. What did Jesus do early in the morning?

5. My motto of life goes something like this in my relationship with God. "Start your day with God, spend your day with God, and end your day with God." How could you… 

• Start your day with God:

• Spend your day with God:

• End your day with God: