Acknowledgement Is Not Validation

A Christian who feels guilt for not daily and purposefully "inviting Jesus" into his life (or aspects of his life) does not know the gospel correctly.

I have made a claim here that may strike you as heresy.  Let me clarify something: I am not belittling the value of a daily devotion time.  However, I do believe that there should be no guilt involved with it.  But I am not so much talking about devotion time as I am about the need to constantly invite Jesus to take over, or to constantly invite Him to be a part of our lives.  We do not need to do that; we only need to have an understanding about it.

I often hear sermons about God in which our relationship with Him is compartmentalized and equated to that of a human, and in one sense, much understanding can be gained by doing this.  God reveals Himself through His creation.  But there is a point at which a person needs to realize that a relationship with God is MUCH different than that of a human.  Even in Hosea, God says, "I am God and not man."

Let me explain why compartmentalizing God is a problem:  God is not limited by space and time.  I can be physically separate from my husband and I may spend time doing many different things on any given day without him.  The less time I spend with him, the more I miss him.  We are one in spirit, but we are bound by time and space.  God is not.  In fact, when you become a Christian, you no longer live, but Christ lives in you (Gal 2:20).  So Christ is in everything about you.  Your entire being is renewed, even your thoughts and actions.  You are never again separated.  You become one with the Almighty.  Thinking about God within the limits of time and space can get a person all confused about their faith.

What I am also talking about is the idea that unless you are spending focused time with God, you are not in His presence.  This idea simply isn't how it works.  Biblically speaking, Christ is one with us and we live and breathe His presence.  Acknowledging God merely brings us to a heightened awareness of His presence.  "Feeling" the presence of God does not validate His presence.  In other words, His presence is with you whether you feel it or not.  And in the corporate worship setting (or in any setting), when you start feeling the presence of God, it doesn't mean He suddenly arrived; it means you suddenly became aware.

I think God mostly uses our feelings to help us along the way and for pure enjoyment, but I used to believe that if I didn't feel something, then God wasn't there with me, and that He wasn't doing anything in my life.  I was always looking for physical proof of His presence.  But I've realized that's not what it's about.  I know He's always with me and always working things out in my life by faith, not by feelings.  I believe He is in every part of me.  He owns me; possesses me.  His very being makes my life possible.  Wherever I am, He is.  How can He not be the center of my life?

Christians around me are always feeling guilty because they aren't constantly focused on God.  People think that they have to invite God into everything they do.  Even into church!  But that is just silly because if Christ is living as you instead of you, guess what; He's already invited.  If He owns the House (the church building, and your spirit), who are you to invite Him into His own house?  Does He not already live there?  Wasn't HE the one who paid for that house with His blood?  You paid nothing.  Furthermore, didn't HE create everything out of nothing?  He's more than invited.  He's God.

As a Christian, inviting God into His own church (or on a personal level, into your life) is as absurd as telling your dad when you were five that he was invited into the kitchen, or that he was welcome to be your dad...  HE IS YOUR DAD.  He owned the house more than you did.  This was something you naturally understood, and it is something as Christians that we need to know instinctively.  God paid for your soul, you didn't.  He owns it.  There is no need to invite Him in; He lives there.

I'm about to get into some doctrinal controversy here, but I believe that part of the reason people feel they have to invite God in is because they believe that they are separate from God.  They believe their will is constantly in opposition to God's will.  They believe that their flesh is and will always fight against God's righteousness.  They don't understand that they are more than just family, but a part of His body.  They believe that they have to make a conscious effort to invite Him in, or else He is not there.  They don't know that Jesus' death on the cross has made them holy.  They have that one sin they can never get rid of.  They are always worried that they're holding on to something, that God only has certain parts of them. 

God has all of you.  And you gave it all to Him at salvation.  The idea of holding back is not an actuality.


I think that when a person finally believes that he is one with Christ, and realizes the power and depth of that unity, there is no more guilt or shame.  Acknowledgement of God happens constantly, naturally, and automatically.  Sin has already been paid for by Christ's blood, so it has no hold.  It is His grace that enables us to truly believe.  Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.  That word comes to you by His grace.  And when that person receives this realization--this faith--he or she becomes reliant on Christ in every single way without even making a single effort to do so.  It's all by grace through faith.  Thank God we have been bought and paid for with His blood!  

I don't have to make Jesus the center; He IS the center.  I don't have to give up anything, because it's already His.  I don't have to invite Him in; we live together.  Furthermore, He owns me.  I don't have to feel Him to know He is with me.  I don't have to try to be better because He IS better, and He lives through me.  I don't have to worry about forgetting God; that would be like forgetting what I look like.  I don't have to feel guilty for enjoying life because I know He's in it all.  My enjoyment of life brings glory to God.

Acknowledgement of God is not validation of His presence; it's simply awareness of an already present God.  Don't live in condemnation simply because you forgot to invite God into this or that certain aspect of your life.  Just know he's already a part of it.  When you realize that, you will automatically begin to live differently.