May-June 1997
COMMENTARY
Knowing or Knowing About
You know the Scriptures, do you know your Savior?
by Greg Albrecht
Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. -- John 17:3
After a beautiful dinner party, the hosts and their guests were enjoying pleasant conversation. The host asked one of the guests, an actor, to do a recitation. The actor, with a twinkle in his eye, said: "I will do so, if the minister who has also shared this delicious meal will agree to do the same. I propose that we both read from Psalm 23."
The minister agreed and listened while the actor dramatically recited the lines with perfect diction and clarity. The guests gave him thunderous applause.
Then the minister rose to give his reading. He did not have the same training or experience as the actor, and many of the guests began to feel embarrassed for him. Clearly he was no match for the actor.
But as the minister recited the psalm with passion, the audience sat spellbound. As he concluded, they were electrified. There was dead silence until one by one they all rose to their feet, paying tribute to the minister's heartfelt words.
The actor later explained the difference between the two readings. "I know the psalm, but the minister knows the Shepherd."
All Christians live with the tension between knowing the script and knowing the Author. Following the words of Scripture and personally experiencing their Lord and Savior. Having cognitive knowledge and having a heart for Jesus. Both dimensions are important.
It's a tension the religious leaders of Jesus' day did not even come close to balancing. In fact, they were so focused on the script they failed to recognize that the central message of the Scriptures was the person of Jesus, who stood before them. They knew the Scriptures, but they did not know the Savior.
"You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life" (John 5:39-40).
While it is important to know about Jesus, it is more important to know him. You can know him without knowing details about him. Details and knowledge do not save and rescue us. Details and knowledge do not redeem, justify or impart new life. Eternal life comes through a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior.
Jesus did not bring us another religion that promises that God can be discovered if humans learn facts about him and do good deeds. Jesus came, as God in the flesh, to find us. Christians believe that the earth is a visited planet, visited by God, who added flesh to his divinity for our salvation. He did not reveal himself because of what we do. He did it in spite of what we do.
Jesus did not bring a religion, he brought a relationship. Eternal life is not knowing "stuff" about God, it is coming to accept and believe, knowing him and trusting him as Lord of your life.
The experience of knowing God personally is not simply emotional gratification. It does not necessarily make us feel good. Feeling is not knowing. Knowing God means understanding his will for our lives, obeying him in all we do.
What about you? Do you know the script? Do you know how to behave and what rituals to follow? That's not enough. We must all be introduced to the Lord of our lives, who died on the cross that we might be forgiven, and who rose from the dead that we might be given eternal life.
If you have not been introduced to your Savior, go to God in prayer and ask Jesus to come into your life. You can meet Jesus at the cross, and you can be encouraged by his empty tomb.
He lives, and so can you.