Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

by Rankin Wilbourne

If you’ve ever been on a long hike, then you know that if you wait until you feel thirsty to drink water, you are in trouble. You’ll already be on the verge of dehydration and possible exhaustion. In the same way, if you pray only when you feel a desperate need, you’re probably suffering from a sort of soul dehydration and possible spiritual exhaustion. And yet, if you don’t put these means of abiding in their place—as nourishment—they can become merely boxes to check, duties to perform, one more thing to do on an already-long list. As we said in the last chapter, life with God is like sailing. You can’t move yourself. You are completely dependent on a power outside of you. You need the wind, and the wind blows where it will. You can’t control it. But you can catch it. And to catch the wind, you must draw the sail. To draw the sail, certain skills must be learned and put into practice. But these skills will benefit you only if you’ve decided to go on the journey in the first place. So let’s assume that you want communion with God. How then do you draw the sail?