3 years w/ Jesus Christ

I just finished 3 years with Jesus Christ. :) 

in March of 2005, i sat at a student leadership conference listening to a Jewish man tell us about Jesus. during his message he suggested every christian should find time to spend 3 years reading and rereading the gospels. in doing so we would catch a small glimpse of what it was like to be a disciple of Jesus walking the earth with Him for the 3 years of His ministry. i.e. we are all supposed to be disciples of Jesus.

more importantly if you did this you would have the opportunity to salt your life with the words, actions and experiences of Jesus.

despite personally offering several similar preaching challenges as a speaker, i rarely act on these challenges when i hear them.

for whatever reason i responded. i came up with the strategy of reading one gospel a month, each month for 3 years. basically i would break each gospel down and roughly read a chapter or two a day. honestly, i don't believe the discipline of embarking on such an exercise is that important. the time spent seeking to know God is extremely important.

knowing increase our ability to love. this is a basic premise of relationships. i don't love my wife, courtney, more today because i have found a way to love more. each day i know her more deeply, more intimately, more completely. as my knowledge of her grows the love i have for her simply expands. i recently heard it described this way. love is like skin for knowledge, as far as relationships go. as knowledge increases the skin of "love" stretches to make room.

with this thought the need to know God better is important. because our ability to love will increase as our knowledge of God increases.

so i read. it wasn't always easy. in fact, many times i became bored with the stories i was reading and rereading. 2 or 3 months over the course of the 3 years i didn't even finish the entire gospel. 

despite this, my knowledge of Jesus did increase, i began to see the parables He shared and His experiences with people and miracles in a different light. 

truth is this is to fresh in my mind to attempt to sum anything up neatly with 3 points, but i do want to share some basics themes which i noticed over these years.

1. my life is more salted with Jesus. not in a "what would Jesus do" way, hoping to have the answer to all life situations at my finger tips. more like, i know Jesus more intimately now and the strength of our relationship allows me to be more humble, more caring, more daring, more courageous, MORE SUBMISSIVE TO GOD.

2. as i read and reread the story of Jesus being crucified, i am now more keenly aware of how Jesus, who I also believe is God, submitted himself fully to God and God in turn submitted fully to Jesus. perfect relationship! the relationship God wants with us. 

God's submission for us=send God's son to die on a cross 

our submission to God=give up control of our lives, the way God, Jesus, gave up control and died on the cross

3. i want to follow the teachings of Jesus. i don't care if i am a good christian. i just want to follow what Jesus taught.

i would suggest to anyone, spend 3 years with Jesus. find your own system, but read the gospels over and over for 3 years. 

Caution: Knowing God may cause you to act in a manner contrary to our culture!

(It may be possible that many of us who believe in God do not know God. What do you think?)

In March of 2005, the speaker actually said every christian should read the gospels over and over for 3 years. 

Have you ever read the gospels? If so, how did they affect you? If not, why haven't you read the gospels?

Do you believe every christian should spend 3 years with Jesus? Why or why not?