I get it!

Good morning brothers and sisters. I sat here pondering, "Why so many different religions?" We all believe the foundation. Well, Christianity does. We all believe in Jesus. We all believe He is the Messiah. We all believe that He died and rose again. And you know that is not all we believe in. We all believe that the Bible is God's Holy Word. But as I was pondering this; it came to me. Do you know that I went to church my whole life, and I was never really taught to have a relationship with Jesus? Oh, they said you must have a personal relationship with Jesus. But what does that mean? I was taught a whole lot of rules but not a relationship with Jesus. And it wasn't until I became an adult that I learned. It wasn't until I laid it all aside and asked Jesus to teach me. It wasn't until I opened my Bible and truly sought what He means. Now don't get me wrong there has been some wonderful brothers and sisters along the way. But to have a personal relationship with Jesus, I didn't get a church. And that makes me very sad. How can the world see Him, if they can't find Him in the church? I have a longing to be with my brothers and sisters. But I don't want to go to church that does or doesn't do because of some hierarchy. I want to go to a church where they do or don't do because Jesus says. Jesus is the only one that matters. I want to go to church where a relationship is taught. I do not want this future generation not to know Jesus. And I wonder are we still not understanding Jesus words? Are we still not understanding His parables? Then I read: Luke 8:10- And He said, "To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. That hit me straight in the gut and it hurt. Are we still seeing but not seeing, hearing but not understanding? I know that I did. But no more. No don't get me wrong, I do not have some profound knowledge that no one else has. I am no better than the next person on the street. But I want to have that personal relationship with Jesus. I want to seek Him in the good days and the bad. I want Him to be my first thought in the morning, my last thought at night and all the thoughts in between. I want everything filtered through Him. And then and only then, when every Christian does that, will the world truly see Jesus. Rise up child of God, rise up!