Sorry… Do I Know You?

“You wanna get coffee together sometime?” The famous line of old friends who’d like to catch up, the man bravely asking out that woman he’s interested in, and two people who have just met and decide they’d like to get to know each other better. The seemingly perfect setting for sitting down with someone and connecting with them in conversation, a coffee shop offers comfortable seating areas, a relaxed environment, and of course those delicious steamy beverages that give it its name in the first place. But I’m not really writing this post to talk about coffee shops, now am I? No, I ‘d rather discuss what it really means to “get to know” someone, and ultimately, what it means to “know” God.

In John 17:3, shortly before Jesus is taken to be tried and eventually crucified, He prays the following:

“And this is eternal life, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”

Paul later proclaims this to be his goal in at least two places in the New Testament.

“For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified,” he declares in 1 Corinthians 2:2.

And in Philippians 3:10-11, Paul, speaking of Christ, says,

“That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death: If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.”

So…

What does it really mean to “know” Jesus?

In the verses both in John and Philippians, that word “know” is translated from the Greek word “ginosko.” Ginosko may sound like a funny word, but it has such a beautiful meaning. Its definition can apply to something as simple as understanding or perceiving something, but it’s deepest meaning is relational. To know someone is to be in an intimate relationship with them. For instance, best friends know each other, parents know their children, a husband knows his wife. The relationship between spouses is probably the best example of “ginosko” that we have outside of a relationship with Jesus Christ, as it is an emotional, mental, and physical knowing that we don’t truly experience in any other human relationship. And Jesus calls us to this same knowing of Him. In order to understand what it means to truly know Him, I think it is important to look at examples of people who claimed to know Jesus, but never really did.

“Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God: Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying” John 5:55-56.

When Jesus said these words, He was speaking to the Pharisees, a sect of the Jews that commonly found pride in upholding men’s traditions and following men’s ordinances. They claimed to serve and know God, but Jesus says they didn’t. They were the kind of men who would seek to make themselves look good by publicly proclaiming their dedication to the Lord, while inwardly basking in the adoration of the common people.

“Not every one that saith, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wondrous works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” Matthew 7:21-23.

“They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate” Titus 1:16.

The Pharisees thought that since they knew so much about God and His Word, that they really knew God. But there is a big difference between knowing about someone and actuallyknowing them. For instance, I’m a big fan of the band “for KING & COUNTRY.” I could tell you some facts I know about them, share personal stories behind some of their songs, my brother even knows the drummer in the band! But…that doesn’t really mean I know them, does it?

“Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe”          1 Corinthians 1:21-21.

“…Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. But if any man love God, the same is known of him” 1 Corinthians 8:1b-3

We can fill our heads with all sorts of facts about God and the Bible, and we can even know our Bible from cover to cover, but if we only ever keep it as head knowledge, what good does it do except to show the world how much we know about God? It is in acting upon His Word and loving Him with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, that we find what it means to know our Lord.

“Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit…Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them…Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit” Matthew 7:16-18, 20; 12:33.

“And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him”     1 John 2:3-5.

Our relationship with God is reflected in what we do; how close we are to Him shows in our daily lives. When people look at you, what do they see? Do they see someone who knows a lot about God? Or do they see someone who really knows God? This is something I have to ask myself often. It’s all too easy to get into a routine with God, so to speak. You sit down sometime in the day, you read His Word, you say a quick prayer, and then you go about your day. Am I saying that it’s a bad thing to have a quiet time? Not at all! Quiet times are fantastic things and serve in growing us in our walks with God. But when we treat that time as just another thing on our to-do list, it seems to become more of a “have-to” than a “get-to” in our lives. We open our Bibles, we read the facts, and then like the man spoken of in James—who looks at himself in the mirror and as soon as he goes on his way, he forgets what he looks like—we go about our day and tend to forget what we just read. It’s in seeing our whole day as an opportunity to nurture our relationship with God that we begin to truly know Him. It’s reading His Word to know His character; it’s communicating with Him through prayer to know His voice as He replies; it’s inviting Him into each moment of every day in order to recognize His hand in it all. It’s not about knowing the facts, but about knowing Him and being known by Him.

“And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of a stranger…I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine…My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” John 10:4-5, 14, 27.

“Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity” 2 Timothy 2:19.

As we go about our days, let us remember that life isn’t about knowing the most about God and the Bible, but rather knowing Him intimately and letting that show in everything we do that others might desire to know Him too!

“But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD” Jeremiah 9:24.

You Are My Sonshine

“You Are My Sunshine”…the cheerful title of a song first recorded in 1939. Some historians claim that the song was written by a man named Paul Rice, who later sold rights to a Louisiana college professor by the name of Jimmie Davis. Others say that Jimmie Davis wrote and played it with his steel guitar player, Charles Mitchell. Whatever the case, it is a tune we are now familiar with as a rather popular kids’ song. As most of you probably know, the chorus goes as follows:

“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,

You make me happy when skies are gray,

You’ll never know, dear, how much I love you,

Please don’t take my sunshine away.”

With such simple words and a catchy melody, this song is quick to get stuck in your head! When I have a song playing over and over in my mind throughout the day, I usually have one of two responses. Either I’m sick of the song by the end of the day and am quite ready to get something fresh in my mind, or I might ponder the words of the song and what it means. “You Are My Sunshine” doesn’t necessarily seem like one of those songs you would dissect to find its meaning, as the meaning stands out rather clearly, one might say, but I actually beg to differ.

About a week ago, I was writing a letter to a dear friend of mine, and at the top of the page I wrote the words, “Jesus is my Sun…But you are my sunshine, for you shine with the light of the Son.” My reasoning for this was that as I was writing this letter, that song popped into my head. At first, I thought to myself, “As sweet as those lyrics are, can they really apply to a person? I mean, isn’t Jesus supposed to be my Sunshine??” I mulled over that some and I realized something: That’s not completely true. “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” you might be saying. “She needs to get her priorities straight! It’s Jesus first, and then
people.” If you were to tell me that, I would agree wholeheartedly, one hundred percent, with no hesitation! Confused? Let me explain…

God and Jesus are likened to the sun in a few places in the Bible. For instance, Psalm 84:11, “For the LORD God is a sun and shield…”; Malachi 4:2 (the Lord speaking), “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings…”; and Matthew 17:2 (speaking of Jesus), “And he was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun…” Later in the New Testament, Revelation 21:23 and Revelation 22:5 both tell of how there will be a day when we have no need for the
sun because Jesus will be our light. Pretty cool, right?

Now let’s take a moment to think about our physical sun—that fiery ball that resides in space. What is it’s purpose? Well, looking back in Genesis, you’ll find that God created it to give us light during the day. The Bible also mentions the heat of the sun. Without the sun’s warmth, life as we know it wouldn’t be possible! Then there’s also good old Vitamin D, a nutrient that strengthens our bones and helps us absorb calcium from food. Vitamin D can be found in some foods, but most of the Vitamin D used in our bodies is made beneath our skin when we are exposed to the sun. The sun sounds pretty important, doesn’t it? But here’s my question for you: Is the sun also sunshine? And when I say sunshine, I mean the rays of light that shine forth from the sun. Some people might scratch their heads and answer with a tentative yes. I know I probably would if someone was asking me that question on the spot! And yet, that question can be answered with a no. You can’t have sunshine without the sun, but those dazzling streaks of light, though they may source from the sun, are not the sun in itself. In the same way, we as people are individuals created by God, but unless we are in Christ, we cannot live in light, nor live as lights to this world. “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12) Without Christ, we walk in darkness, but when we invite Christ into our lives and follow Him, He gives us the light of life! What does that mean for us?

“There was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (John 1:6-9). As we can see from this passage, Jesus is the true Light of which John was testifying. John himself was not that Light, the true Light, and yet he was also a light, as we read in John 5:35 (Jesus speaking of John), “He was a burning and a shining light…” How do you think John became that light? Or rather, Who do you think made him that light? Jesus. So if John, who believed on and testified of Christ was considered a light by Jesus Himself, what does that make us as fellow believers??

“For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:” (Ephesians 5:8).

“Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16).

When we allow Jesus Christ, the Sun of righteousness, to be our life, He shines His light through us and we become that sunshine spilling forth from the Sun. And what is our purpose as those rays of sunshine? Think back to the song I mentioned at the beginning of this post. What is the second line of the chorus? “You make me happy when skies are gray.” As thick, gloomy clouds roll over the sky, what tends to be the result of that? The sun is no longer visible. Yet we still know it’s there, don’t we? Just because the sun itself cannot be seen, does not mean that it has completely disappeared. How do we know that it’s still there? Because we see the light glowing in those dark clouds. We see a ray of sunshine breaking through the dull canopy above. We see radiant beams, like golden fingers, reaching down to tenderly touch the earth. We are that light.

A good portion of this world “gropes in the dark without light”, they “stagger like a drunken man” (Job 12:25), they “know not the light” (Job 24:16). And there’s another part of the population, people who have seen the Light, who have walked in it, who know its warmth, and yet threatening clouds have come to dwell in their skies, and they find it hard to see the Sun past that dreary curtain. We’ve all been in both groups before. We know what it’s like to stumble in darkness, for just as Ephesians 5:8 says, we were once in darkness until “God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). We also know what it’s like to go through seasons of cloudy skies in which we are troubled, perplexed, persecuted, and cast down (2 Corinthians 4:8-9). We know. So what can we do with that experience?

“Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light…” (Isaiah 60:1-3).

“If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light” (Luke 11:36).

“Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun:” (Ecclesiastes 11:7)

With Jesus as the Sun who shines forth His light through us, we can light the path of those who grope in darkness. We can reach a lost and dying world and bring them to the light of life. We can be that sweet and pleasant light that breaks through the clouds to give someone hope and the strength to press on. That becomes our calling when God “delivers us from the power of darkness” and “translates us into the kingdom of his dear Son” (Colossians 1:13); when He “calls us out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).

“This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:5-7).

Take some time today to meditate on that. Think about all those people in your life who have been that light you needed when life got hard. Ask yourself, “What can I do to be that kind of light? How can I brighten her day? How can I shed some light on his path?”

“How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings…For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light” (Psalm 36:7,9).

Jesus is the Son, and we are His Sonshine, for we shine with the light of the Son!

Hope

Hope.

It seems as if we’re all searching for it, but we can never find it.

We search for hope in things that will, in the end, make us longing for more hope.

What do you hope for? I’ve seen people and I myself have hoped for health, success, money, acceptance, happiness, peace, joy, and more. But what if we’re placing hope in things that will never satisfy us?

What if we let go of the things we hoped for? What if we let go of longings and hope, and instead gave them to God?

I have been realizing that nothing on this earth can truly satisfy our inner hopes and longings. One by one, I have been laying down all the things I hope for and that I want, and started giving them to God. Becoming “hopeless” by the world’s standards but filled with Christ’s hope is a crazy thing.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

God is the “God of hope”. He is the provider and giver of the hopes and longings that we want. His Holy Spirit makes us overflow with hope. Taking hold of this true hope is no easy task. To do this is to become hopeless, by unpacking our hopes at God’s feet, then finding this hope that God so freely provides. This is a type of hope I define as “heavenly hope”.

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians 3:1-2

Set your minds and hearts on things above my friend, then you will know the abundant hope. Around 2,000 years ago the world was waiting, hoping, longing, for a Messiah. Their waiting was long and hard, but they patiently waited with a beautiful hope from Genesis to Christmas. Then, on the first Christmas night, we were blessed with the most wonderful hope that we could be granted, the best gift in all of history. Although the Earth didn’t realize what one of the hundreds of babies born would bring to them that night, the angels sang in the rejoicing of a simple newborn’s cry.

A Man named Simeon waited in a temple, filled with hope. “I will see the Messiah before I die”. While a woman named Anna spent all her days praying with hope and anticipation of the world’s greatest gift. Then, the rejoiced at a simple baby. Their hopes and longings had been satisfied before their own eyes.

Anna and Simeon had something special lit aflame inside of them. They had the hope of Christ. This beautiful hope, that literally kept them alive.

(read this story in Luke to learn more about Anna & Simeon) 

We can have the same hope that captivated Anna, Simeon, and hundreds of other Jews of the day. Hope in Christ. Not hope with Christ. Jesus is the living hope that came to us that first Christmas night.

Feeling hopeless? Remember, heaven is our home, where all our hopes and longings will one day be fulfilled. Join me in rejoicing in the living hope that we can so freely have, and by laying down all of our own hopes to Christ! May you be filled with the hope that only Jesus can give you!

As we celebrate Christmas, and the wonderful gift that was given to us, remember that God is the true provider of our hope. Hold tightly to Him! May you have a very Merry Christmas (on behalf of me and all the other girls on YLFC 😀)