ENTER IN

ENTER IN

Looking back, I have come to see my journey with God as a long courtship. How long that courtship lasts differs for each person.

There is a difference between knowing about God, experiencing God, and abiding in Him.

Many people know about God. They know Scripture, theology, and doctrine.

Others have genuine experiences of God. They may sense His presence, receive comfort, or have powerful spiritual encounters.

Yet neither knowledge nor experience is the destination.

Jesus repeatedly speaks of something deeper.

He speaks of remaining, abiding and dwelling.

"For I go to prepare a place for you... that where I am, there you may be also."

— John 14:3

"If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him."

— John 14:23

"Abide in Me, and I in you."

— John 15:4

To me, these passages move beyond knowledge and even beyond experience.

They describe dwelling, becoming so at home in Him that His life becomes our complete life.

When we first come to God, we seek to know Him.

As we continue, we begin to experience Him.

But the invitation of Christ is deeper still.

Not merely to visit His presence, but to remain in it.

Not to experience Him from time to time, but to find our home where He is.

When we love someone, we enjoy their presence. But love longs for something deeper. It longs to be where they are.

For where He is, we finally discover that home is not a place.

Home is where He is.

When we accept His invitation to enter in, His life no longer simply touches us. He makes His home in us and completes us.

We no longer visit His presence.

Home becomes ours together.

There—in that shared home—the marriage begins.