It's Not Enough To Know

It's been a long period of reflection - this Lent. I went into it ready to experience more of what it means to follow Christ in His suffering. My decision was to give up certain things in order to get what I sought. For the most part, it has happened, but not just through a change in what I ate.



I've read the gospels over and over, studied through literally hundreds of pages in commentaries, and listened to a number of sermons during this Lent, but the best teacher I have had during this time has been... life. It's not enough for me to just know about Jesus, what He did, what His friends did. It's only when I have to rely on following Him through challenges big and small - times when I have choices to make - that I begin to understand and grow in faith.

Going through the last few months with Bunny and trying to help her honor her father and mother as her mom slipped away made me draw on every ounce of Christ's compassion I could beg for. It made me depend wholeheartedly in God's provision more than in years. It drove me more often to my knees. And when it ended, I knew God in a deeper way, had increased the level of my trust in His loving care, and opened a freer dialogue with Him than I had ever had before.

If I could pass along one bit of knowledge gained, it is this.

Knowing Is Not Enough

All that Bible trivia you have stored up about feast days, coinage, Jewish customs, Roman laws, declensions and the like - only matters when it causes you to love Jesus more with your everyday life. If that's not happening - you are good to go on Bible Jeopardy, but not in following Christ.

It is in those countless decisions you make in the everyday that you reveal what you believe - really believe. It is in the times when the shadows are darkest that His light becomes the brightest. It becomes evidence of His faithfulness and a touchstone for you to say to others "My God Saves, My God Cares, MY God Provides.

In our case, I really feel that God is getting ready to use us in a way far past our previous comfort zone. Pray for us,that we might be ready.