A Jesus Moment and Why Five Minutes Can Make a Difference

[HKHaugan]

“If you’re five minutes away from the Bible I can’t trust you and if I’m five minutes away from the Bible you can’t trust me (Earl Sandifer).”

The reason this becomes a core principle is that the Father has a destiny for each of us, to live with Him forever in His Kingdom. But in this world there are all kinds of suffering, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Suffering on every level is accompanied by temptation. His Word carries us through them, “We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who He has given us (Rom.5:2-5).”

So it’s not so much the five minutes but what that five minutes means. It’s the spiritual distance between us and God at any given moment. Staying aware of that distance and keeping the Bible close has three objectives, first, to keep us close to God, second, to keep us in right relationship with others and third, to keep us as visible witnesses for Jesus in the world. With conscious reliance on Scripture we can be assured the Holy Spirit is going to make every moment a ‘Jesus moment’ so that we can meet those objectives.

By a ‘Jesus moment’ is meant there will be those moments in the life of an individual that will define him, a moment of decision that will require a choice between good and evil. It is a character building moment. At that moment Jesus becomes the definition of the perfect choice as we choose Him when an imperfect choice presents itself. That moment is when we become truly human as opposed to being just another world-compromised person. What’s more is that moment is really possible every next moment because as long as we are breathing every next moment will hold that choice.

Since physical breathing sustains our biological life spiritual breathing sustains our spiritual life. The Bible is God’s oxygen tank bringing the oxygen of the Holy Spirit into the compromising and dehumanizing atmosphere of secular society. As we breathe in its words the Holy Spirit energizes them by keeping the consciousness of Jesus’ presence in the forefront. His nudge happens when situations arise that will cause me to ask questions like: “What would Jesus do?” “Is this consistent with the person of Jesus? “ When faced with a temptation “What do I do now?” “Will the choice I’m making please the Lord?”

It is in the actual consistent reading of Scripture that the Holy Spirit fills us so that those moments of moral choice become alive with His presence. Spiritual breathing is exhaling through being alerted to the inclination to make a bad choice (also called conviction), confessing (for having paused) and repentance (laying it before Jesus) and inhaling (accepting His forgiveness) letting the thoughts of things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father (Col.3:1-4) become our thoughts. You may not remember the exact words but the Holy Spirit embeds the meaning of the words and their impact shapes how you respond in every next moment. Again our character becomes a biblically enhanced character that is the light, the glory of the Lord, shining through us, not so we can be seen but that He can be seen through us.

For example when we take the specifics of Jesus’ teachings we can see the attitudinal forces that drive human beings who live apart from God. But in them we can also see the power of the Holy Spirit in Jesus as He offers their correction. That correction is neither harsh nor demanding. What He does is to give those who hear them His insight with the purpose of them gaining an awareness of the condition of their attitude as a result. The process takes place within the mind and heart of the hearer whom Jesus not only offers a new insight but actually His attitude to be embraced as well. It is actually a spiritual exchange of attitude. We realize our condition of a hardened attitude, one we have constructed to handle a situation safely and replace it with His attitude which, by the way, is alive and real because He is the risen Jesus. By virtue of His Resurrection, the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ gift to us, brings the whole Jesus into our mind and heart.

Take for instance the woman caught in the act of adultery and brought before Jesus by the Pharisees (John 8:1-11). They wanted to test Jesus to see what He would do. Their attitude had multiple characteristics. Hard-hearted, accusatory, authoritative and officious with a single minded purpose to eradicate anyone that didn’t recognize their position. Of course they resort to using and hiding behind the Scripture to justify themselves. Add to this their anger and suspicion fueled by fear. The many against the one.

What did Jesus do?

He calmly bent down, wrote in the sand and then said, “If anyone of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her (vs.7).” One by one, from the older to the younger in that order, they slipped quietly away, obviously convicted but choosing to remain unchanged (note here Jer.17:13 “Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water.)” Then, consistent with His Genesis question-‘Where are you?’-He asks “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” to which she answers “No one, sir.” In His compassion, His grace and His authority, He tells her “Then neither do I condemn you, go now and leave your life of sin (vs.10-11).” Only God the Son could have done this. That was a ‘Jesus moment.’ Suddenly we can see why Earl Sandifer told us five minutes can make a difference, especially for our every next moment.