Do You Really Know Him?

For many years, I never understood the difference between knowing about Jesus and actually knowing Him.  If someone would have asked me if I was a Christian years ago, I would have certainly told them, "Yes".  I grew up going to church.  What I didn't realize for so long, is there is a difference between knowing someone and knowing about them.  For instance, I know who President Obama is, but I do not personally know him. 

Matthew 7:21 "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven."

When I lived in the Philadelphia area, I attended a bible college for a year.  I distinctly remember a dream that I had when I was going to school there, and I don't think I'll ever forget it.  I dreamt that I had a final exam for one of my classes, and the room was very quiet.  All of a sudden, a man walked into the room and broke my concentration.  I noticed that many of the people in my class were really excited and immediately got up to speak to this man, even though they had not finished their exams.  In my dream, I was thinking, "Why is this guy here?  He's totally distracting me, and I need to finish my test!"  I sat there trying to finish, as more and more people got up from their seats to speak to this man.  I couldn't figure out who could be so important for everyone to stop taking their finals.  After sitting there getting more and more angry, I finally decided to go over and see what was so interesting.  Then I realized who He was...

That man was Jesus!

John 17:3 "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent."

Here I was, in my dream, taking a test on "spiritual" things, and I didn't even recognize Jesus when He walked in the room!  I knew a lot about Him, but I didn't even recognize Him when I saw Him.  I believe that God used that dream to wake me up into realizing that I was doing a lot of good things for Him, but I wasn't spending any time with Him, which is what He really wants.

At that time of my life, I was so busy doing "good" things.  I was involved in my church, went to bible school, involved in church groups, etc.  That did NOT make me a Christian, though!  What makes someone a Christian is trusting Jesus as his/her Lord and Savior and having a relationship with Him.  It was after this dream that I realized that I was doing a lot of things that seemed "good", but I was not spending any quality time in prayer.  I was not spending any time getting to know Jesus better.  This reminds me of my son, Joshua.  He likes when I do things for him, but what he really wants is for me to spend quality time with him.  I continually have to "check" myself in this area, because it's so easy to be busy doing things that seem "good" and forget to spend personal time in prayer with Him, also.

I'm sure almost everyone who reads this knows who Jesus is. Even someone who's never been to church could probably name where He was born, what His mother's name was, among many other facts.  Maybe you haven't been to church since you were a child.  Maybe you've never been to church.  Perhaps you have a Master's Degree in Divinity.  You could be a bible scholar, though, and not even really know Jesus. 

You've probably done a lot of "good" things in your life. That's what makes God happy with us, right?  Sure, God likes it when we do "good" things, but that doesn't get us into Heaven.  Trusting Him as our Lord and Savior and turning away from our sins are the only things that will make you right with Him. 

For years I thought Christianity was stuffy and boring.  I thought it was all about being fake and trying to follow impossible rules.  Real Christianity is anything but that.  If you've never read my testimony, you can read it here: My First Love 
 
Do you have a personal relationship with Him?

If you don't, you need to. He loves you, no matter what you've done in your life.  He wants to have a relationship with you!

Your eternity depends on it!

Maybe you DO have a relationship with Jesus.  I challenge you to examine your life to make sure that you are not mistakenly confusing your "good works" with spending time with Him.  I continually have to remember that they are two very different things.

Romans 10:9-10, 13 "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."