It’s a funny thing being a Christian. You get saved, and you start this journey of living like Jesus. The Bible calls this being a disciple, but it seems as time goes on, we tend to forget Jesus. I know we would say that’s not true, but if we’re honest at one time or another, we all would have to admit that we’ve fallen into the trap of just going through the motions. So we do our checklist: go to church, pray, read the Bible, and maybe a few other things.

Matthew 13:52 TLV “Then He said to them, “Therefore every Torah scholar discipled for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure both new things and old.”

As Christians, we can develop a mindset that the gospel is basic, it’s the beginning, and once we grow a little that the birth, death, and resurrection are just something we know. However, when it comes to our daily walk with Jesus, the life of Jesus, and the significant events of incarnation (the birth of Jesus), His death and resurrection need to be a source of meditation and comfort continually. As we walk with Jesus, we need to pray that we don’t just see black and red words on white paper but that the words we read become alive to us.

John 1:1-5, 14 TLV “In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ All things were made through Him, and apart from Him nothing was made that has come into being. ⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overpowered it. ¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. We looked upon His glory, the glory of the one and only from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Our Bible reading will never be the same when we grab hold of the truth in that passage. God is so vast; Jesus is so vast that no matter how many years you have read and studied the Bible, there is always more to learn. When we are firmly planted in Truth – God’s Word – our growth will never get off the right path.

An everyday relationship with Jesus will connect things that we have been taught don’t go together. I have been seeing that the last few days in my walk with Jesus. We have to be willing to get out of our natural minds and see the unity in the spirit. We all find ourselves at times going through the motions. We find ourselves reading and not getting anything out of it. We find ourselves praying and feeling like our prayers are hitting the ceiling.

Take a moment today and pray through the two passages of Scripture I mentioned. First, pray that how your relationship with God started will be connected to your present, and that joy will rise in your heart. Pray that it would no longer be words on paper, but you would receive life when you read the Bible. One of the keys to getting out of a spiritual slump is not to give up. Revisit the gospels and Paul’s letters. Pray that as you read, it would be life and encouragement. Ask and receive understanding and strength. An everyday relationship with Jesus will have ups and downs. The important thing is we don’t give up in downtimes, and in good times we still move forward with tenacity.