March 28 I Monday

Judges 4-6

Luke 4:31-44

“Now this is eternal life: that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.”   —John 17:3

The Christian life is about knowing God and Jesus Christ. We do not arrive at that. It is a continual pursuit in our everyday living that will be made complete when we reach our eternal home in heaven. Eternal life, however, is not about heaven, but about knowing God and Jesus Christ.

      God, the Father, and Jesus Christ, the Son, are co-equal with the Holy Spirit, and are one God in three persons. Within the Holy Trinity, the Father sent the Son, the Son leads us to the Father and the Spirit enables us to know the Son. Paul tells us, “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3). It is in knowing Christ that we come to the Father by the work of the Holy Spirit. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are inseparable and divinely orchestrated to reconcile us to God.

      The best starting point in coming to know God and Jesus Christ is through the Bible, not because of its content, but because of who is saying it. Every word of Scripture is God breathed, which means it has life and it is the life of God Himself imputed to its pages. Every page of Scripture leads to Jesus Christ, and every proper understanding of Scripture is by revelation of the Holy Spirit.

      We could have someone give us a condensed version of the Bible, but that would be secondhand and subject to their interpretation. We could listen to a great message from the pulpit every Sunday, which is likely to be very inspiring, helpful and informative, but again, secondhand. Coming to know God and Jesus Christ is experiential, and it is as God breathes His own words into our hearts, our minds and our souls that we really come to know Him. Anything less lacks the light that sparks the fire within us in which we hunger to know more, and the more we hunger, the more God fills us. Unlike secondhand information, which is often quickly forgotten, this is personal experience of God that not only lasts, but transforms our lives.

      God has something to say to each of us individually. When we hear His voice in Scripture, we can be certain we will hear Him in our hearts as His Spirit fills us in our daily living. The Word of God is irreplaceable in coming to know Him. If we are genuinely seeking God, we need to pray with earnest hearts for the Holy Spirit to instill in us a hunger for the Bible.

Prayer: Almighty God, with all my heart, I want to come to know You. I ask that You instill in me an insatiable appetite for the Bible. Thank You, God.