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We all have our favorite authors or celebrities that we admire. I know I have favorite authors, actors or personalities that inspire me, and I do enjoy reading the brief biographies printed on the book covers, or found online.
Still, sometimes, don't you wish you could just sit down, face-to-face and talk with these people? Wouldn't you like to hear the brilliant thoughts they write or speak directly from their lips in conversation? Wouldn't you like to laugh, wonder, discuss, share in their life - even if it's just for just a moment? In fact, the more you learn about them, the more you want to know the person who inspires you and who elevates you beyond yourself!
You have heard this common question: If you could meet and talk with any one historical figure, dead or alive, who would it be?
Do you know that the number one answer to this day is, Jesus? For various reasons - not all of them necessarily affectionate - people want to meet Jesus.
For believers though, if we say we want to know Him and draw closer to Him - and we mean it - then perhaps as an example, we need to look at someone who genuinely prayed and lived that request.
That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto His death.” (Phillipians 3:10)
Still, sometimes, don't you wish you could just sit down, face-to-face and talk with these people? Wouldn't you like to hear the brilliant thoughts they write or speak directly from their lips in conversation? Wouldn't you like to laugh, wonder, discuss, share in their life - even if it's just for just a moment? In fact, the more you learn about them, the more you want to know the person who inspires you and who elevates you beyond yourself!
You have heard this common question: If you could meet and talk with any one historical figure, dead or alive, who would it be?
Do you know that the number one answer to this day is, Jesus? For various reasons - not all of them necessarily affectionate - people want to meet Jesus.
For believers though, if we say we want to know Him and draw closer to Him - and we mean it - then perhaps as an example, we need to look at someone who genuinely prayed and lived that request.
Knowing Him
That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto His death.” (Phillipians 3:10)
It amazes me every time I read this prayer from the apostle Paul, that this 'seasoned' believer, with the most amazing track record of any man that has ever lived except for Jesus himself, and who happened to write the majority of the New Testament prayed:
1. that he would know Jesus;
2. that he would know the power of His resurrection;
3. that he would know the fellowship of His sufferings; and
4. that he would be made conformable unto His death.
May this be our prayer during the Lenten season when followers of Christ contemplate the death, and celebrate the resurrection and life of Jesus.
Please know, this is not a prayer for non-believers, though, if you are a non-believer I hope that you do come to know Him sometime. Rather, this is an exercise in humility for those of us who have followed Jesus for quite some time, and who want, as Paul did, to have a fuller revelation of the person of Jesus.
I want to know Him.
Christianity 101 teaches much about the historic Christ. Yet, Paul was after something much more; he didn’t just want a biographical knowledge of Jesus, he wanted to know Him personally.
He didn’t just want to know about the life of Christ, he wanted to know Christ as the Life.
He didn’t just want to know about the event of His resurrection, he wanted to know Christ as the Resurrection.
He didn’t just want to know the words Jesus spoke, he wanted to know Jesus as the Word.
I would venture a guess that Paul would have been beside himself, if during one of his times of fellowship with Jesus, Christ would have said to Paul as He said to Phillip in John 14:9:
know who I am?”
May this be the cry of our hearts as believers: I want to KNOW Him! I don’t just want to know about Him, I want to know Him; His heart, His thoughts, His motives, His personality. Not just as an historical character, nor as a great story or a legend or a character, but I want to know Him personally - like I know my dearest friend or closest relative. Not just the things He did, but what motivated Him to do them! Sure, we've heard about God’s love, but oh, that we might know the very heart of such love and the One who makes it possible for us to experience such love and mercy and grace and abundance of life!
There is no formula. No "5-steps to Knowing Jesus Better." No methodology to follow. Just spend time with Him. As believers you know how to do that.
Life has been very busy (in a wonderful way), and admittedly over the past year I have too often neglected my personal journey to “know Him” more. So it is the result of our humanity, that in our spiritual life we often have to grieve the breaks, and failures, and intervals that simply prove to us that there is something lacking that prevents us at times from knowing Him more fully.
My guess is, I am not alone. Dear reader, if you find yourself approaching this Easter season in the same condition as you were last year, or perhaps worse than you were a year ago, then let's declare with Paul:
I'm not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don't get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus.
I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back!
I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back!
(Phillipians 3:12-14, The Message)
May we never, ever be satisfied with thinking that we know him; hoping that we know him; knowing Him as an acquaintance or as an historical figure; or knowing Him through someone else's experience or knowledge.
Instead, may we have fuller revelation of Him affectionately, experientially and personally!
Next Post: The Power of His Resurrection
