Knowing vs. Knowing About

Can you read every book written about Donald Trump, talk to other people who know him, be seen in a crowd with him, buy all of the things that are associated with him.....and still not know him? What if you were privileged enough to be inside his house on a regular basis? What are some things that are implied when you say you know somebody? Would it violate your conscience to say you knew Donald Trump if you'd only read about him and never actually met him? If, after reading all of the books on Trump and talking to those closest to him, what do you think his response would be if you were to approach him on the street in a familiar way? Get away from me I don't know you! (Matthew 7:21-23) How long would your marriage last if, from this day forward, all you did was read about your wife? What if you included talking to the people that are closest to her? What if, on a regular basis, you sat around and talked about nothing but her for a couple of hours with those that were in contact with her? Let's even say that you could remain in the same house with her - as long as you never sat in each others presence or spoke to each other directly again. The marriage would fall apart wouldn't it? What are some things that are implied when you say you are in a marriage relationship? The strength of a marriage can very nearly be measured by the amount of communication that occurs within that marriage. The key to any relationship is communication. You can't really know a person without having at least some relationship with that person. You can't have a relationship with that person unless you spend time in their presence and communicate with them. Even once you establish a relationship with that person, time and communication is of immense importance in maintaining that relationship. (Ephesians 5:22-32)

How effective would you be as a father if the full extent of your parenting was giving your children a collection of letters that you wrote to your other children a very long time ago? What if these letters were amazing and revealed every single thing they ever needed to know about you? No matter how good the letters were, you wouldn't really be a father if this was the full extent of your parenting. What are some things that are implied when you say that you are a father to your children?

Generally speaking, on Sunday mornings - do we spend the majority of our time, effort, energy and resources on knowing about God or on knowing God? What do we stress in our Sunday morning bible classes? Is this a time to be in close intimate relationship and contact with our Father? Is this a time to learn how to enter into His presence and remain there? Is this a time of cultivating intimacy with our Creator? Or is this a time to sit passively through a lecture? A lecture we may have already heard in one form or another quite a few times. A lecture that we will probably forget right after lunch. A lecture that, at it's very best, will enable us to learn more about Him. Who comprises the majority of our Bible Class attendees? Is it mostly men and women who are unchurched and completely ignorant of scripture? Or is it mostly men and women who are very churched and already relatively familiar with scripture?

What about our Worship assembly? Do we devote every possible second of this time to worshiping God - to actually being in His presence? Is this a Spirit led time of entering into His presence? Or do we have a relatively pre-programmed "schedule of events" that has us listening to yet another lecture for a good portion of this time?

What about Sunday nights? Is this mostly a time to cultivate closer, more intimate relationships with the people in your group or to cultivate a closer, more intimate relationship with your Creator? Granted this time doesn't have to be mutually exclusive, but typically -- do you spend more time talking to God or talking to others about God? Is this okay? Do you really believe that there is indeed a difference between knowing about God and knowing God? Why is it so difficult to see this distinction when we speak of our relationship with God? It's a little disconcerting for me to ponder that my knowledge of God and my conversations about God, far exceed my relationship and intimacy with God. It's comforting to fool myself into thinking that gaining more and more knowledge about Him and talking to other Christians about Him equates into knowing Him personally. This is what I've (inadvertently I believe) been taught for years.

What's more powerful and appealing to you? Gathering together in a place where we will learn more about God or gathering together in a place where we are going to actually meet HIM? What do you think is more powerful and appealing to a lost and hurting world?

So - how do we cultivate this real, actual, intimately close, personal relationship with God? Should we be spending at least some of our time, effort, energy and resources on this? Maybe a Wed. night class? "How to cultivate a personal relationship with Christ"......sounds like something we should be spending every waking second on to me - not just some poorly attended Wed. night class....How different would West Houston look if every member was to really begin doing what we say we're all about: "SEEKING GOD". How does one "Seek God"? I've already found Him would probably be a typical response if the question was really pondered. Would the second half of our vision "SHARING JESUS", flow very naturally if we were doing the first half? (Matthew 6:33)Everything - Unity in the Body, Discipleship, Leadership, Outreach, Evangelism, Youth Work, Good Marriages, Good parenting, Freedom, ...... EVERYTHING that's good and healthy for individuals and for the body as a whole, will flow very naturally, and almost effortlessly from intimacy with the Maker. If we shift our focus from Him to all this "religeous stuff" like unity, leadership, discipleship, outreach, evangelism.....they will only occur to the extent that man can make them occur. If we focus on placing ourselves before God, allowing Him to transform us daily - truly seeking Him. If we teach and encourage others to do the same. And if we provide opportunities for this to occur regularly -- then these other things will occur to the extent that God can make them occur.

Ephesians 3:20-21 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.