know about Jesus vs knowing Jesus

Articles

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CHALLENGE: Try sitting quietly in Jesus’ presence for one minute. Put down this magazine and try to enjoy Him, listen to Him, and be with Him.

If most of us were honest, we would say that this “challenge” was difficult. We probably spent more time thinking about our lives than being with Jesus. (Our families, jobs, kids, the big game, etc.)

Sadly, I find this to be normative in most Christian’s everyday lives. Sure, we spend a lot of time learning ABOUT Jesus. We have countless services, endless Bible studies, and more books than we can read. However, knowing ABOUT Jesus is not the same as KNOWING Jesus.

3 Major Obstacles to Knowing Jesus:

• We’re too busy.

We are simply doing too many things. We’ve said “yes” too many times. Your calendar is packed with something every night of the week, and you’re already waking up extra early trying to hold it all together.

Last week I spoke with a friend, who is married and has two kids. He shared of a period in his life when he was working full-time, volunteering, and going to school. There was a week where he got little to no sleep, and at the end of the week he literally felt something snap inside of his body. For the next nine months he suffered from vertigo and had to be touching a wall wherever he walked as a support so that he didn’t fall down.

Some of us are doing far too much, and, as a result, we’re saying “yes” to things the Lord has not asked us to do. Because we’re too busy to spend time with Him, we make more and more decisions without consulting Him, which leads to a downward spiral in our lives.

• We’re too disorganized.

For others of us, it’s that we don’t organize our lives very well. When we’re disorganized with our finances, we end up in serious debt. When we’re disorganized about our studies, we forget about assignments and tests. And when we’re disorganized about our relationship with Jesus, He goes by the wayside. Soon, a day turns into a week, which turns into a month and we’ve spent little to no time with Him. Feeling disconnected and having made a series of poor decisions, we let sin grow like festering weeds in the garden of our hearts.

• We’re too apathetic.

Lastly, there may be some of you right now that, for lack of better words, are not interested in your relationship with Jesus at the moment. If you call yourself a Christian, this ought to frighten and deeply disturb you. This apathy shows that you do not care to know Jesus. I urge you to cry out to God and beg Him to change you. Then, choose to spend time with our Lord and Savior, regardless of how you feel. Trust that He will meet you where you are and restore you. Feelings are a blessing, but our heart is deceitful above all things (Jer. 17:9), so we must not let our emotions dictate our actions. Instead, we must trust the Lord and come to Him no matter how we feel. (Prov. 3:5-6)

Jesus uses the analogy of branches on a grapevine to depict our relationship with Him (John 15:1-8). Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. Have you ever looked at a plant and tried to decipher exactly where the stem and branches start? No clear separation exists between the two. You cannot distinguish where the vine ends and the branches begin. The relationship is deep and intimate, and the branches cannot live without being connected to the vine. Not only should we not live without being connected to the vine, but we simply CANNOT live without being connected to the vine.

If we are busy, we must discern what it is that the Lord is calling us to and let go of additional schedule clutter. If we are disorganized, we must get organized. If we are apathetic, we must confess, repent, and plead for God’s grace to change our hardened hearts.

Take a minute to reflect. What is the Holy Spirit asking you to do right now?