Thursday, December 30, 2010

Knowledge vs. Experience

So I've been up at camp since Monday afternoon. It's been alright. One thing that Brody has mainly focused on is the difference between having knowledge about who Jesus is, but not having any experience of you knowing Jesus.

Having knowledge of Jesus is simply knowing that He died on the cross or any of the things that He did while He was on earth and by just simply reading and memorizing Scripture your knowledge of Christ is growing. But what does knowing Jesus mean? Knowing Jesus means that you have a relationship with Him. It's kinda like being married... you KNOW that you are married if you are married because you have a relationship with that person and you are in communication with that person day in and day out. That is how it should be with Christ. You need to pursue Christ, ladies, like how you pursue something that you really want such as a new Louis Vuitton handbag; men, the way you pursue getting a new truck or some kind of "hot" car.

The reason we were put on this planet was to bring glory to God in all that we do. And one thing that brings glory to God is by conforming to the image of His Son, Christ. We conform to Christ's image by being in an intimate relationship with Him. Being in a relationship with Christ is not about going to church on Sunday mornings or going to Crusade on Thursday nights. It's about dying to yourself DAILY and pursuing what God has called you to do each day. It's about studying God's Word and really diggin' into it so that you can learn what God has called you to do and the steps you may need to take to get to where He wants you to go.

The best way to study God's Word is not by randomly opening your Bible to some book and read a random verse that may not make any sense to you and then close it and be like man, that was awesome. Because 1. it's not all that awesome if you are completely lost in what the Bible was saying and 2. chances are it wasn't helping you grow that much at all. So get like a devotional book if you don't feel like you can dive into a book right away. Or you can always start with a book that may have some sort of Bible study tool that you can use to help you while going through that book. And maybe use the little devotional book as something to read when you want to take a day or two and get a breather from the book that you are mainly focusing on. I do that a few days a month. Because I get bored really easy so I need the breather so that I don't get too bored or drowned out in the book.

Also, prayer is another way to grow in your relationship with Christ. Prayer is conversation with God so you just talk to Him like you would your best friend. Because honestly, God is one of you best friends. He knows more about you than you know about yourself. Crazy huh? So talk to Him, trust me, He'll listen and He'll answer. His love never fails and it is never ending.

So basically, just because you can quote John 3:16 or the Romans Road and you go sit in a pew or chair for an hour to two on Sunday does not mean that you KNOW Christ. It simply means you know about Him. Through experience in your spiritual walk with Christ you will gain experiential knowledge of Him which is better than just philosophical knowledge of Him.
So which boat are you in? Knowledge or Experience?

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