Good morning. I would like to have us consider today the incredibly powerful distinction between believing in Jesus and knowing Him.
You cannot love a person whom you do not truly know. You may love the idea of that person, you may love what you know about that person, you may love what that person stands for and represents to you. But you cannot love that person if you do not know them intimately and personally.
It is essential to our faith in Christ that we come to know Him, and that means that we share with Him a special trust and intimacy.
When the apostle Paul was describing the essence of life as he had come to know it, he said this in Philippians 3:7-10 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (the underline is mine)
Paul said that everything in life came down to the overwhelming value of knowing Jesus, and by knowing Him, to also know the power and truth of the resurrection from the dead.
Jesus Himself put it this way in Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” (the underline is mine)
To know Jesus is obviously more than believing in Him. To know Jesus is to draw so near to Him that there is trust, there is intimacy, and there is love. To know Jesus elevates our relationship with Him to a new level. It takes us from the working of the mind to the joys in the depths of our heart.
Please consider today what it means to know Him, and please know that the intimacy necessary to know Him will come to you through prayer, through His Word, through trusting obedience, and through heart felt desire. Above all be sure of this: Jesus very much wants to know you!
Vern