The Rest of the Story!
by Mike Rule

In response to last week's article we received an e-mail asking, "So when I come to the point that I see I can't and I desperately need Jesus, how do I "get" Jesus?" As American radio personality Paul Harvey says, "Now it is time for… the REST of the story!"

The real battle for us as God's children is being willing to REST in what we already have. The enemy deceives us into believing that we do not have the fullness of Christ residing within, and we end up chasing after things we think we do not have. Here is what I mean. You might get up one morning and look out in your driveway to see your car is not there. In your panic to find it you quickly begin searching, first in your own community, and then in the surrounding ones. The more you look for it, the more frustrated you become. The more frustrated you are, the more discouraged you become. Pretty soon you begin to get desperate. You feel hopeless and helpless and no matter how hard you look, you cannot find your car. In total despair you finally give up and stop looking. You go back home and open your garage door only to discover that your car was there all the time. It was never in the driveway.

We are often desperately seeking for the very thing we already have. Jesus dwells in us. We are complete in Christ. But, because we buy into the lie that we are lacking something, we go looking for what we already have. The moment we go searching for it, we cannot find it. It is only when we are desperate enough to surrender our efforts and return to the place we began that we will discover Jesus IS all we need. This is a place of rest. It is a place of snuggling up to Jesus and admitting that apart from Him we can do nothing.

As believers, we "get Jesus" simply by acknowledging the fact that we already have Him. He has promised us He would never leave us nor forsake us, and even if we walk through the valley of the shadow of death He is with us! It is an amazing revelation that we literally stand in the presence of the Lord! But this can only be realized through faith. That literally means we can only recognize Him by trusting that He meant what He said, even if we don't feel Him or think He is with us. There is NOTHING we have to do or "get" to gain His nearness! He IS near!

All of our deficiencies and struggles are to draw our attention and our dependence back to Jesus so that we will admit that apart from Him we can't do a thing. Then we are free to stop trying and allow Christ to do (or not do) whatever He chooses through us. The doing is not the point. The point is simply in the "being." We can REST in Christ (be still and know that HE is God) and our only job is to respond to what He reveals through our intimate relationship with Him. He is the whole point of our desperation. He is what we are desperately seeking and we already have Him. This rest in Christ is "the REST of the story!"

(Note: It is important to clarify that no amount of explanation can "teach" spiritual realities. With man this is impossible; it is only possible with God. This article is simply my feeble attempt to express what I have seen and heard in my own journey with Christ. The point of "Living Reflections" is not to tell you what to do to have deeper intimacy with Christ, but to encourage you to continue seeking deeper intimacy with Him while  allowing Him to define what that looks like. )