In my last post, “How Well Do You Know God? Part 1″, we discussed how God has always intended for man (men and women) to accept His invitation to know Him and become part of His family.
Acts 17: 30 “God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him.
We also discussed how we can be very religious, as in reading the Bible every day, praying and going to church every week, yet not know God in a personal way. This reminds me of this passage…
John 5: 39 “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! 40 Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life.
Jesus is addressing the Pharisees, the religious leaders, telling them that they are simply being religious. Imagine that! They refused to come to Jesus and He was right there in front of them! The Scriptures don’t give eternal life, but they point to the One that does! This happens today. People worship the Bible when they make more of the Bible than what it is. If only their leaders could introduce them to Jesus!
The Bible is God’s Word, God’s message to us, but it’s not God.
Any spiritual knowledge we receive from the Bible comes from the Holy Spirit. Even atheists read the Bible, but they fail to acknowledge God’s existence.
Think of the Bible, it’s message, as a key, but the key only works when oiled with the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the Door (John 10:9) and only the Key (Scriptures) with the Holy Spirit, can open the door.
Here’s a passage that makes this clear:
John 4: 23 But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. 24 For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”
The Truth, of course, is the Bible, Knowledge of God, either written or audible and the Spirit is the Spirit of God. This is so simple yet cannot be overstated.
Romans 8: 15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.
You can make Christianity religious if you want.
Sure, make Christianity religious if you want, like so many others do. Say your daily prayers, go to church or mass every Sunday, and even read your Bible every day.
Just know if you do not know God personally, and are not seeking Him (as we’ve discussed) and placing your trust in Him, then you are either religious or in some strange social club.
Only when we have that relationship which allows God to bring true change to our hearts will we be attracting others to Christ through our actions and love. Knowing true change for ourselves and seeing God through others is what sets us on fire.
Do not miss out on this!
If we don’t grasp this concept of relationship and continually seek God we’ll miss the boat completely, so why bother? I’ll explain why you’ll miss the boat next time.
Jesus and His Father want you to know them and to love them with your whole heart.
Isaiah 29: 13 And so the Lord says, “These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.
Doesn’t this sound like our church today?
This is a very personal message and this whole concept of a relationship with the Creator of the universe can be overwhelming. I can only point, direct and lead people to God. The relationship part requires that one makes a conscious, deliberate effort to meet with and converse with the Lord daily.
If you struggle with this, then this is what I suggest: Make your prayers more relational. In prayer, talk to God as though He’s sitting across from you. Tell Him: “Father, I want to know you more. Please reveal yourself to me.“ and proceed to tell Him whatever’s on your mind.
Psalm 55: 22 Give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.
I’ll wrap up this mini-series next time that I hope will hit this message home.