How Jesus Affects My Relationship With You

The vision to transform my body rests on a spiritually-focused life. Here are characteristics of this life.

Your Body, Your Choice

I don’t force my ways on you. Following Jesus’ way, as I am in relationship with you, I will pursue his ways. I will not try to use any forceful methods of persuasion to get you to see his ways. I will not try to gain advantage over you. Like Jesus, I honor your capability to make your own choices without trying to manipulate you or aggressively applying pressure to make you change those choices.

Christ’s Choice vs. Your Choice

I will be in relationship with you, but I will also pursue the ways of Jesus. As I am experiencing Christ’s guidance and power in keeping my commitments to him, he is making it possible for me to refuse to follow any other road. It becomes easier to do the right thing.

In my relationship with you, if you choose a path not consistent with that of Jesus, I will respectfully decline to participate. I will do so in a gentle, non-judgmental manner, but the path I choose will be clear.

I realize this may seem strange. In the past, my decisions would be about following my own desires. It is not the past, however. In the present and future, I am committed to following Jesus’ desires. I will not try to force this on you, and neither will I back away from what he is doing in my life.

Peace

Loving God and others is my primary purpose in life. With Jesus on the throne of my life I can live this way. I am not trying to establish my kingdom but work in his. What does this look like?

Superstar athletes learn how focus so intently, they screen out everything that brings the possibility of negative thinking. Tiger Woods is an example of this. I spoke with a friend who has the opportunity to play with many pro golfers and he said the thing that sets Tiger apart from everyone else is his incredible intensity of the current situation. He lives directly in the moment and always looks for something positive to tune in on before his next shot.

When he hits it in the trees? No problem. There is that one opening there between those two big branches that make a target for the green. It is a perfect visual. If you are a golfer, you get the picture. Non-golfers, it just means the guy absolutely expects good things to happen (private life not withstanding…)

This is how my faith life can look like. No matter what is happening around me, my body and my body language are at peace. I can respond to any situation with the Bible’s tools of positive emotion. My body responds with love, joy, peace, faithfulness, gentleness, kindness, and self-control. This is the energy I feed off of in my relationships with others. Also, this creates an environment around me that reduces anxiety in others.

Win/ Win

When Jesus is on the throne, I am honoring and respectful of others even if they are not following a godly life. I offer myself to God and so I can be completely open to you. I can practice true tolerance.

Tolerance is not approving of everything you do. The definition of tolerance is this: I am respectful and courteous to you and I disagree with you. You cannot be tolerant of people you agree with. My body is living in line with Jesus and so I am relating to you through him. I am his to use as he pleases. I am available.

This kind of life is made possible through Jesus’ sacrifice for me. As he gave his life for me, my life is totally his forever. I am the last person on earth who could ever say, “It’s my body, and I will do with it what I please.”

Now, how do I actually gain this spiritually focused life? Next, intention and means to transform my body.

Why do you think Jesus talked so much about not being afraid and not worrying?