you, me & steve

love is not hard

Your good friend ,Steve, introduces you to someone.

Steve tells you a lot about this person and then you decide that this new person is a great person and deserves your time and attention.

So, you ask Steve about this new person's favorite color. You ask about their favorite movies, you ask how many siblings they have.

You ask and ask and ask Steve, until you decide you not just like this new person but you really really like them. It doesnt matter if you've never spoken to or never met them. You trust Steve's judgement, and you've heard enough, and you have decided to date this new person.

Now, it's rolling up to valentines day, and you ask Steve if your partner will like chocolates or pies. And since you've never seen or spoken to your partner, you ask Steve if your partner will wear a size 7 or size 9 pair of jeans you saw right outside.

During the planning for the big day, Steve walks up to you and says your partner is upset with you. You ask Steve "why?"

Steve gives a reason and then you panick. You scramble to craft a handwritten apology, then you create a surprise gift box packed with all the things Steve says your partner likes and then you wrap it in a bow and kiss it and send it to your partner—through Steve ofcourse.

So off Steve goes to deliver your package, and you wait at home. Patiently. You stare at your phone, wondering if you should call your partner. But then your thumb pauses over the dial button. Fear and dread seep in. You've never had a conversation over the phone with your partner before. Well, you've never had a conversation with your partner ever.

So you wait. Patiently. You'd talk to your partner when Steve gets back.

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I've always wondered how some people claim to be Christians , the bride of Jesus, if they've have never met him? Never spoken to him. Everything they know about him is either from their pastor, mentor or mother.

You run to a church for prayers, not because you need support but because you believe a particular pastor will give you particular access to a particular power of God. The same access Jesus particularly died for.

In my opinion, if we treated our relationship with Jesus the way we treated our relationship with humans; getting to know them, speaking to them, listening to them, and putting an effort to make them happy ourselves —with no external party—then majority of our walks with God would be easy.

There's only so much of Jesus you can experience from a 3rd party perspective. You need to close that gap and know him for yourself.

You can start by reading his own word — not a summary of them, not someone's sermon about them, but the actual text. Matthew, then John, then Mark and Luke. This is him, speaking.

Follow the example of the samaritans;

"We no longer believe just because of what we have heard, but now we have seen him for ourselves and we know that this man really is the savior of the world."

John 4:42