Quit Clinging and Start Following
Most people seem to blow through or blow off reading the Bible, especially when it comes to the familiar stories. As we read them we think of them as the same old stories we heard as kids, and since we know them already they have nothing more to say.
Take for instance the story of Jesus appearing to Mary after the resurrection. When she came to the tomb and found it empty she was devastated. When Jesus showed Himself she didn’t recognize Him, but when He spoke she knew and held onto Him until He told her to let go and tell the disciples.
This story has plenty to say concerning our search for Jesus, how we persist in worshiping Him in outdated ways, and our need to move forward in our relationship with Him.
Let’s look again at this familiar story.
When Mary went to the tomb and found it empty she was devastated because Jesus wasn’t where she thought He should be.
Today people search for Jesus where they think He should be. They search for Him where they saw Him last. They search for Him through the religion or denomination of their youth. They remember Him still hanging on the cross.
They’re searching for the idea of Jesus, but not the living Lord.
Unfortunately they never recognize Him when He does reveal Himself because He isn’t as they remember Him being.
Jesus, however, doesn’t come in the old form of religion; rather He comes as He came to Mary, personally. He comes and speaks to our needs and hurts asking who or what we’re looking for.
Stop looking for Jesus in religion; instead look for Him as your personal Savior and Lord. One of the best places to start is in the Bible and amongst other believers who have found Him and who are worshiping Him as such.
And when you find Him, cling to Him determined to never let Him go.
But there’s a lesson in this as well. Far too often we cling to the old form of worship, what we’re used to.
Mary clung to the Jesus she knew, not allowing Him to expand into what He could be within her.
As Christians we tend to cling to the old ways of worship, never allowing God to do that new thing. We never allow God to grow and expand our lives because we insist on clinging to religious traditions thinking this is the sum total of the relationship.
Jesus had to tell Mary to stop clinging and go tell others what she had seen and heard.
This is the heart of the Great Commission Jesus gives to all His disciples. Jesus is calling us to get out of the pews and start telling our others what He has done.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20 NKJV)
