Knowledge About....Or Knowledge Of?

Even though you may be reading this in the A.M....
I started writing it on Sunday evening at 8:06 p.m.
Thoughts seem to float around from time to time in my brain...
Some of them seem to be good...
Some seem to be of the silly nature...
And then there are those thoughts that seem to be given by God.

One of the thoughts that has been renting space all day today, is the thought that God is bigger than my understanding and comprehension. You may say, "Of course He is...we all know that!" But what do we do about such a thought? Where does it lead us? Do we simply acknowledge the greatness of God and then move on with life? Or does such a thought stir the desire to know Him even more? I love what Paul wrote in Philippians 3:10--"That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death."  Such a statement does not sound like someone who is content with his current state of salvation. Doesn't sound like someone who is content to simply play the "religious" game. It sounds like a man who has been changed....A man who wants to expend himself on knowing (experiencing) the fullness of the presence of God.

Paul states that he wants to KNOW Jesus. Not an intellectual ascent or a gathering of information, but rather an on going experience of the presence and person of Christ. This interaction between divine and mortal, bound together by God's Holy Spirit, takes place daily.
You see, Paul was crazy enough to believe that salvation, and the call to follow Jesus, invades every area of life and takes precedent over everything else.  If we read the passage from Philippians correctly, we see a man who has sold out to Jesus. He is not holding anything back and has given up everything for this relationship. What is crazy is that we read of such a commitment by Paul and we consider it to be absurd and incapable of being carried out in our day and time. Now while I don't believe that everyone has the call that God placed on Paul, I do believe that everyone is called to follow Jesus with the same passion.

The verse from Philippians tells us that Paul desired to Know Jesus....
And the POWER of His resurrection. The kind of POWER that moved Paul to write "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." When he stated "all things" he was speaking of situations and circumstances. Paul could thrive and survive no matter if he was in jail, or a free man. No matter if he had a lot, or didn't have a dime. Paul could do all things no matter what the world threw at him. He wasn't a whiner or a crier about his lot in life. He considered it all to part of the journey. That is what I want for my own life. I don't want to resort to whining and crying and claiming that "Life Ain't Fair!".  Of course life isn't fair. Jesus told us in Scripture that if we chose to follow Him the world would hate us. Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! 

I want to stay hungry from God.
I want to expend myself on Him and His kingdom.
I want Jesus!
I want to learn now to love others with the same love Jesus has.
I want to see His face, hear His voice, and walk where ever He goes.
Just for today...

God on you...
mb