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Have you ever heard someone say I believe in God but they can’t share about their relationship with Jesus? This can be the difference between mental assent and relationship.
Mental assent means intellectually accepting the Word of God as true – admiring it and agreeing with it-but not allowing it to have an impact on you, so that it doesn’t do any good in your life. In essence, mental assent agrees with God but does not believe in God. It is the same as acknowledging His existence but not giving Him access to your heart and life.
I have spoken with many people who acknowledge God but they do not accept His gift of Lordship. Yes Jesus died that our sins might be paid in full but He also came that we could enter into relationship with the Father. He came to restore that place where we can enter God’s presence and know Him. It is because of that love that He offers that He calls us to move past mental assent and allow Him to enter our lives as Lord. It is not so that we have to follow rules that He sent Jesus it is so we can know His freedom.
Like many times in the Bible God used the simple to confound those who felt they were wise so that they would set aside their own understanding and rely on His ways.
““For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:8-9 NKJV
God is always thinking of you and planning to prosper you. Even when it seems like correction it is always for the purpose of bringing you back into the relationship you were meant for; that of a son, an heir and of a beloved child of the King.
So where are you in this journey? Do simply admit that God exists or do you know the amazing identity for which you were born? Do you practice religion or is your life overflowing with the blessings of relationship?
Please take it from someone who lived a lot of years trying to maintain a religious life it is so much better to walk in relationship! I spent years sitting in church, trying to do things that “good” people do, trying to meet expectations. It took a moment of revelation to show me what I was missing by allowing Jesus not only as my Savior but also as my Lord. Since that moment my life has been full with the love, acceptance and freedom of a child of God. If you can’t find your Jesus story when asked then take a moment to ask Him to show you this amazing relationship that is just waiting for you.