By Not Known
if a scholar wrote an ‘A’ grade book on the doctrine of God while spending much of his time debating and tearing down other scholars, does he really know Jesus? If a devout leader who has spearheaded many key ministries went around stepping on people by his tactless actions and insensitive words, does he really know Jesus? What about ordinary Christians who come to church always seeking to be served and yet are oblivious to the concerns of those around them, do they really know Jesus?
According to the Apostle John, there are 2 marks of true Christian spirituality, that is: obedience and love. Whoever claims to know God must obey his commands and love his fellow Christians (1 John 2: 3& 5). This was the manner that Jesus Christ himself had lived when he was on earth. He was obedient to his Father’s commands even to death on the cross. He did so in full assurance of his Father’s love for him and was driven by his personal love for those whom the Father had given him.
Knowing Jesus is not mere intellectualism or activism. Knowing Jesus is fundamentally relational based on biblical truth. The living God of heaven first reach down to us in the person of Jesus Christ so that we may respond in communion with him. It is a living fellowship relationship. We must beware of the danger of reducing Christianity to a body of codified knowledge. The problem with modern rationalism is that we package Christianity into a categorised theory and spend much time dialoguing with people over the subject of God and call that evangelism. In so doing, we risk mastring God, rather than be mastered by him, To witness is to share that relationship with people by the way we live under God’s rule as his kingdom people, not selling a concept of God. We know that we have come to know him if we turn over our lives to his lordship.
When we way, “I surrender to God…” it is to be in the present tense. The process of sanctification is life-long and involves turning over to God the keys to every room in our hearts. Only when Jesus has entered in, can we truly commune with him, and be transformed into his likeness in those surrendered aspects of our lives. It involves struggling with sins, acknowledging and confessing them, and repenting. When we meditate on God’s love towards us in Jesus Christ, and survey the wondrous cross of Calvary, it makes it all the more reasonable to forsake ourselves and cling on to him. And when ‘self’ is more and more removed from the centre of our beings and replaced with God’s love, we cannot but move and act as Jesus did – in the light of his love. Whether you are a scholar, or a leader or an ordinary child of God, the marks of true Christian spirituality is the same: obedience and love. Do you know Jesus?