Being With Jesus Changes Everything

Pastor Todd often says, “Show me your friends, and I’ll show you your future.” Hanging around people often enough tends to rub off on us, doesn’t it? 

Last summer, I was on vacation with my family. Every day, we sat under a couple of umbrellas, but all week I noticed everyone else around me sitting underneath nice pop-up beach tents, which had much more shade. So the night before our last day of vacation, I bought one. Our beach experience the next day was so great that I threw away the umbrellas. Being around those people on the beach changed me. I used to be an umbrella person, but now I’m a tent person. 

Isn’t it amazing that the way others think can affect how we act—for better or worse? If we’re not careful, other people’s worry, anxiety, doubt, or fear will cause us to focus on things that rob us of our own joy. But the opposite is also true. If we surround ourselves with people who are full of faith, patience, joy, and courage, it can influence us to live in victory. If this is true in the natural world, it’s also true in the Spiritual. 

Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created man in His own image…” Then Genesis 2:7 tells us, “The LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.” 

From the very beginning, God formed us to spend time with Him so we could be like Him, think like Him, and act like Him. The problem is that sin entered the world, and we immediately began focusing more on burdensome things than the Spiritual things which bring true life. But God had a plan to redeem us. He sent His Son Jesus to offer us a relationship so He could influence our focus and priorities. The more time we spend with Jesus, the more we think and act like Him. 

One of the most life-challenging statements of Jesus is found in Matthew 6:33. It says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” 

This was a challenge to shift our focus off the things causing us to have worry, fear, anxiety, or doubt and onto God and His goodness at all times. How can we possibly do this with so much to deal with? By becoming more like Jesus, who showed us the way. This transformation only happens when we choose to spend more time with Jesus through Scripture, worship, and prayer. When we do, it’s amazing how our concerns somehow get taken care of. 

I want to spend as much time with Jesus as possible so I can become more like Him—because being with Jesus changes everything about our present and future. So maybe some of us need to stop sitting under the umbrellas of life’s pressures and upgrade to the tent of God’s abundant provision and presence through His Son Jesus. 

Will you be an umbrella person or a tent person? You get to choose!