To know HIM

Philippians 3:6-11 NLT

I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault. [7] I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. [8] Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ [9] and become one with Him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God's way of making us right with Himself depends on faith. [10] I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised Him from the dead. I want to suffer with Him, sharing in His death, [11] so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!

There was a great analogy of this passage in my devotional this morning and I quote:

"In the early seventies, the country music of John Denver took the States by storm, and I was his biggest fan. When my sister and I learned that John Denver would be appearing in a concert nearby, I sent him one of my charcoal drawings, invited him to dinner, and asked if we could meet backstage. To make a long story short, the closest I got to him was row 57, seat DD. A year later I received a letter of three sentences thanking me for the drawing. Looking back, I am amazed that I actually believed that John Denver was my friend. It was crazy to think that he would want to see me and come to dinner at our farm after the concert. How ridiculous! For although I memorised the fact sheets about John Denver, including all the words to every one of his songs, I did not know him. My knowledge of him was an illusion."

Do I know Jesus like that, or do I really know Him? Is it up close and personal? Am I intertwined in His heart and He in mine?

Hmmmm....something to consider this day and every day.

Before his Damascus road conversion, Saul knew a lot about God, had a great command of the Torah and did his best to follow the Mosaic law, but his "knowledge" led to murderous actions.

Jesus challenged him from Heaven, calling him out by name: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?"

Saul answered: "Who are You Lord?"

Jesus introduced Himself personally to Saul in that moment:

"I Am Jesus, Whom you are persecuting!"

We see from the passage above, that Paul now longed to know Jesus more and more to the extent of longing to suffer with Him in order to experience the power of the resurrection.

Knowing Jesus is the greatest thing that this life can offer. I must be more than a Jesus "fan", watching from a distance in the audience of the world, I must know Him, REALLY know Him...intimately every day, in each moment.

Let it be so.

https://youtu.be/x3SnaCDE2lM?si=voT9y0TPwW6UlFHx