Getting to Know You

       Have you ever tried to get to know someone with out spending any time with them? Have you ever tried to find stuff out about a person without talking, using facebook, or twitter? When we want to get to know someone, we take the time to invest in that task. We do not just sit by and say, “It will happen on its own.” Sometimes that other person will go out of their way to invest in your friendship, but people can only do this so long before they get burnt out.
      Time is something that holds us back from doing a lot of things; lack of motivation is another thing that holds us back.
      There is a new kid at your church and you are the one that she sat by in Sunday School. The two of you hit it off right way. You found out that both of you had the same favorite subject in school, both of you liked the same sports team, and both of you liked the same music. After that Sunday, you have more the one option of what you can do with that friendship that you have just made. Option one: grow that friendship, invest the time that is needed to better know the girl and become her best friend. (Random F.Y.I.: it took me over seven years to make my best friend, a best friend.) Good friendships do not happen over night. Option two: only be friendly when someone has been friendly to you. This is a good way to keep friends simply that, just a friend. Option three: do absolutely nothing to help that friendship grow; in fact, you try your very hardest to keep it from going anywhere. 
       I am sure that most of you out there are pretty good friends to most everyone that you have the pleasure of coming in contact with, but there is one person I am sure you are not as good of a friend to as you should be. Who is the one person that walked on this earth that all of us need to have as our best friend? Just in case you have not had your coffee yet and you are still a little slow this morning, the answer is, Jesus. How many of you can honestly say that Jesus Christ is your very best friend? I know that I would have to pause for a minute before I could answer that question. We all know that he should be our most amazing friend ever, but when it comes down to truth, I am not sure I can say that he is my very best friend. Most of us have the, “just friends” type of relationship with God. We go to church on Sunday, during the summer we go on missions trips, and sometimes we even go to the weekly Bible study. These are all good things to do and they are very helpful for your walk with Christ, but if this is all you do, you will stay just friends with God. With me, my best friend Tessa and I spend as much time as we can together. At the beginning of this school semester, Tessa and I would spend almost three out of every seven days together. I learned a lot about her during that time. I knew what school work that she would be having a hard time with; I knew what stuff she was excited for. If I had not spent a lot of time with Tessa, I would not have known what was going on in her life in detail. But to find out what was going on in her life I had to invest the time. Flip this around and think of it as God; how well do you know God’s thoughts and wishes?           
       God invests in our lives more than you know. He gave us the Bible so that we have resources to find out his likes and dislikes. He gave us the Church so that we can be refreshed weekly and gain insight to God’s word. He gave us great Christian men and women to show us how to conquer our faith and know Christ better. Oh, wait! There is one small thing; if you want to reap the benefit of these gifts that God has given you, there is one small thing you have to do first: INVEST THE TIME. Going to church, reading our Bible, learning about great Christians and why they were great all takes time. You should not have day-to-day devotions just because it is the right thing to do. God has allowed you as his child to spend time with Him. Think of how amazing it would be to spend ten minutes with your all-time favorite president. How much more amazing and awesome should we find the time that the Lord has freely given us to spend with him every day? We do not find this amazing because we do not always see the reward. Time is a valuable thing and setting aside ten minutes every day can be a hard task, but there are a few points I want you to keep in mind. 
Back before Jesus came, people could not talk to God when and wherever they wanted. Sacrifices had to be made on their behalf to make them clean. Now that Christ has died for you and me, we have an open line of communication with the Lord; therefore, this is a gift that has not always been there.  
Point two: God will never punish you for spending time with him. Satan might, but God never will. 
Point three: I once heard a speaker make a point that really hit home with me. He said, “There are two commitments each and every one of you should have made by this point in your life. One: to serve God as your savior and Two: to spend five minutes every day with that savior.” Some of you may find this helpful; some of you may say, “Yeah, big deal.” If you want God to be your best friend you have to go part of the way to meet him. Anything of value comes with a price. The price of making God our best friend is giving up some of our time.  



        2 Tim 2:22
 Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.


       Friendship is a two-way street. 


Project: I will spend ten minuets a day with God, by reading my Bible and praying to him. Some times the Bible can be the most boring book on earth to us, but push through the hard times. Your reward is in heaven. 


Follow Up: Well, I think that I will be working on having a child-like faith for the rest of my life, but this was a good project and I had fun with it. I have seen God work in my life so much over the last six months. I can really see him pushing me to have better faith.