"Personal Relationship." What does that mean? It always seems to come up in Christian conversation: "Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus?" or "That person needs to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior." Is Jesus my personal Savior like Jeves is my personal butler? I have my own personal Savior, how about you!?
Now if it is meant by "personal" that I can have a relationship with the "person" Jesus, then that makes total sense to me; are not all relationships personal? But that doesn't seem to be all that it means, though. It seems to carry with it these other connotations that mix with equal parts arrogance and existentialism. While I don't think that that occurs self-consciously, it does seem to be the current cultural vernacular. If I have this personal relationship with Jesus (and it always seems to be in the heart), then I can replace Scripture and its true study with what I feel in my heart as the basis of truth and objectivity. "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9).
Yes, we are supposed to love the Lord our God with all our hearts and pour our hearts into all that we do for our Lord. And yes, I believe that Jesus dwells in me through his Holy Spirit. But I would not say that I have a "personal relationship" with him the way that that phrase is being used today. Consider the following.
Suppose you had grown up all your life, from the time when you could first remember up until now, you had always heard about this one man from your family, your friends, and you had read about him in books. You had even heard that he is a ruler of some kind with a kingdom, and even that you could become a citizen in his kingdom. You knew all that you could about this person, and even had pleasant feelings about him whenever you thought of him. You tried to do the very things that he would do based on the stories you had heard and read. Then one day, when asked if you ever met this ruler personally, what would you say? What could you say? No. The ruler was away, but he did leave his Spirit and his word behind.
I'm guessing that this story sounds familiar. I think it might actually be too familiar. The hardest thing to get over is not that Jesus is away, but that Jesus is physically away. He is physically in heaven right now in the Father's presence performing all the tasks that he must as king, priest, prophet, and Son. He might actually be the only physical being or object in heaven. (I say "might" because I am only pretty sure, not 100% sure.) So, he is indeed a king who is not personally present. That is why he has left his covenant behind, and we can have a covenantal relationship with him.
The disciples and all those who knew and met Jesus while he was on earth are the only ones that I would say had met him personally and who could have a "personal relationship" with him. The thing is that they watched him leave and knew that where he was going they could not go (John 13:33), and knew that there presonal time was over, but they were about to receive his Spirit. Now I would say that even the "personal relationship" phrase cannot go well with the Spirit, but if it is to be used at all, this is where it should be used.
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