How much do we know Jesus?
- Jacob Ninan
Most of us know much about Jesus. We know the stories about Him, the miracles He did, the parables He used, the lessons He taught, and the big events in His life. Some of us may also be busy 'serving' Him in different ways. Bud sadly all this is possible without having met Him or knowing Him personally. It is like working for many years in a big company without ever meeting with the CEO. In the case of the CEO it may be that he is inaccessible, but not so with Jesus.
We cannot get to know anyone without spending time with him, talking and listening to him, working together with him, discussing things with him, etc. Isn't that how we can get to know Jesus? Why aren't we doing it? Is it because we don't have time?
God told Abraham to walk before Him and to become perfect (Ge.17:1). The implication for us is that to live our entire life with Jesus is the way to become more and more like Him. In other words, whatever we do we talk it over with Him, refer to His word, read what other experienced people tell us, share with Him what is troubling us, tell Him frankly how we feel, ask Him when we can't understand what is going on, discuss with others what we seem to have learnt from Him, etc. We will do this when we realise that He is the most important Person in our life, what He thinks about anything is the final word on that subject, He knows everything that even the cleverest ones on earth are ignorant about, He can guide us in the best possible way, He has got our best interest at heart, He can do whatever He wants, and finally He is the One we are accountable to. Then we will find time for Him, much more passionately than two people who have fallen in love do with each other.
Instead of doing this, many of us are trying to manage with second hand information which preachers are feeding us. Our entire input for our Christian life comes from Sunday morning messages, or sometimes also from daily Bible verses or 'devotionals'. If Jesus was inaccessible, we would have had to manage with whatever we could get in this way. But every child of God has full access to the Most Holy Place (to use a type) into which we can walk in any time, any day, anywhere, and even live there (He.10:19-22).
A. W. Tozer said, "Every man is as holy as he really wants to be." We cannot get away by making excuses about how busy we are, and how we need to do so many things. What we need to ask ourselves is the question Jesus asked the man waiting for healing at the poolside for 38 years, "Do you wish to get well?" (Jn.5:6).
What a great tragedy if we do so many things, make a lot of money, become so very famous, enjoy the best things that the world can offer, make friends with the elite, and accomplish great things, if we missed the opportunity for getting to know the Lord of our life (Mt.16:26)! And the way to know Him is simple and within the reach of even the youngest Christians. We would be most foolish to let time slip by.