O.K.....Let's get this straight.
We celebrated Good Friday....Jesus on the cross.
Death...payment for sins....etc..etc...
We celebrated Easter.....The tomb....Stone rolled away...
"Up from the grave He arose!"....Resurrection Sunday....
Now what?
Do we go back to business as usual? Were those days just blips on the radar screen, that vanished as quickly as they appeared?
Now what?
The last thing I want is for Good Friday and Easter to simply stir some emotion in me so I can return to life as I have known it. I want to know Jesus more. I don't want to rest on the thought of "God as I understand Him." I want my understanding to be ever changing. I want to be growing in Him. But you know what? I'm not talking about information. I'm not talking about "fun facts" about God. I'm not talking about "factoids" concerning the Almighty. I'm talking about a living, breathing, walking-around, getting-to-know-Him, relationship.
John 17:3 reads: And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent."
Now I may be wrong, but the last time I read the Scriptures, it said that Jesus appeared to His disciples and taught them. It doesn't say that He appeared and said, "O.k. boys, I need you to study the first three books of the Torah." I'm not advocating giving up reading the Scripture. But how can the Scripture make sense if you don't know they One who breathed it into men?
in his book, Knowing God, J.I. Packer makes the following statement.
"We need to ask ourselves a fundamental question. What is my ultimate aim and object in occupying my mind with Scripture? What do I intend to do with my knowledge about God once I have it? To be preoccupied with getting theological knowledge as an end to itself, to approach Bible study with no higher a motive than a desire to know all the answers, is the direct route to a state of self-satisfied, self-deception."
Our fundamental aim should be to take the knowledge we have of God and use it in a practical way. Our desire should be to know and enjoy God Himself. To value the knowledge about God as a means to this end (Quote by J.I. Packer).
I cannot, nor will I take God and fit Him into my life like some addendum to a will or legal document. I must take my life and fit into God's will and purpose. Somehow Western Christianity has boiled down relationship with God as being something you display so that others will know you are a believer. Well, if truth be known, I think we have far too many believer's......and not enough follower's. God isn't something I put on display to gain respect from others so they won't think bad about me. Jesus didn't die on the cross for my comfort here on earth. He died (according to Romans 4:25) and was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.
Let me go one step farther....
This new relationship isn't about doing a bunch of religious stuff.
It isn't about handing out tracts....
It isn't about witnessing....
It isn't about serving on a church board.
We have been given this opportunity to know (through experience) the God we read about in Scripture.
Now what happens when you begin a relationship with someone? You truly want to get to know them. You want to understand what pleases them. You want to know what they love.
To me, it's the same thing with God. The more I know Him, the more I fall in love with Him. The more I fall in love with Him, the more I want to do for Him.
But the doing becomes second nature. I don't do it out of some feeling obligation to Him. I do it because it's what I do.
I kind of figure that if we are referred to as Human Beings, then I should BE who God created me to be. We are not called Human Doings. The doing comes as a result of me "Being". Call me silly.....call me whimsical.....call me Ishmael..sorry, Herman Melville suddenly filled my brain.
I would recommend J.I. Packer's book Knowing God as a good place to start.
I don't recommend a lot of books, but this one is a keeper.
Yes, He is risen.
But what are we going to do next?
God on you...
mb
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