RELATABLE | JACQUI SMITH
Have you ever felt engaged in something? Where you are connecting with your friends because you just beat the highest level of a video game, or you just witnessed a hilarious video clip together? Were you ever brought to tears because of an incredible sports moment, like Daryl Sittler and his 12 goal game? Or Sidney Crosby and the Golden Goal at the 2010 Olympics? Have you ever felt entangled in someone else’s mess? Or have you ever watched a movie at the theatre that you couldn’t take your eyes off the screen because the graphics, the actors, the CGI, and the music score were just so perfect?
Has there ever been a moment where you felt so overwhelmed (in a good way) that you were so wrapped up in what you were doing? I mean it could be anything! An amazing concert! A beautiful art gallery, a brisk walk on a beautiful fall day, the most perfect dairy free latte, that date that you’ve been looking forward to all week! The championship game, or even an A on a project you worked so hard for! Something that you were truly engaged in, where nothing else for that moment mattered? I know I have.
Some of my best moments in my life have been when I dove in and ENGAGED in what I was doing. When I was in Bible College, I used to sit at a piano for hours and hours and play and sing my heart out (that is where I taught myself to play). Music is my thing. It is the best way to engage me in anything! Especially to engage me into the presence of God.
Do you know that God desires for you to engage in His presence? He actually wants us to be swept up and overwhelmed (in a good way) by His peace, His grace, His love, and His mercy. He wants us to engage with Him. When was the last time you did that? When was the last time you were overtaken by the presence of the Holy Spirit? Whether in prayer, in worship music, in giving, in caring for someone and speaking life over them? How do you best engage with God?
You know, being engaged does not just refer to getting married. It actually means to offer up something (your word or your life) to someone or something. Engaging in something means you are ALL IN. It means that you are giving up the distractions and finding ways that you can be in relationship with God. God can relate to every single one of us…but we have to be willing to engage in conversation with Him.
So how do you become more relatable to God? Engage with Him. You know, He’s the one that created us in the first place, and in my experience, it seems like people (of all ages) seem to forget that. They say they know it…but when it comes to how often they truly engage with God, it seems like it’s not that important that the Creator of the entire Universe, Heaven and Earth, and the one who died for them and the entire world and creation (all one God), wants to relate with us.
We need to take the time to engage with God. In Romans 12:1-2 it says “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”
If you want to know what to do with your life…you need to spend more time with God, in the presence of God…because He will speak to you and give you direction, through His word.
But to truly engage with God, we have to give up our lives, and offer our life to God because of what He has already done for us. If you haven’t, maybe this is your chance…maybe it is time to realize that God wants to relate with you, and that it is time to engage in something more than your surroundings. It is time for you to engage in the presence of God.
Pastor Jacqui Smith
Assistant/Student Ministries Pastor
Hi-Way Pentecostal Church, Ingersoll, ON