When All Is Said and Done

There are two things in life that are of the utmost importance. Coming to know about ourselves and coming to know about Jesus. And to be honest with you, I don’t think we can even come close to knowing about ourselves until we begin to know about Jesus. And, of course, it’s not just knowing about Jesus that is important, it’s the actual coming to know Him part, the personal part, that makes all the difference.

There is simply no one, in all of history, that is like Jesus. No one else ever spoke the words that He spoke and no one ever did the things that He did. No one. Ever. And Jesus actually said that whoever had seen Him had seen the Father, who is God. The reason for that of course is that Jesus personified God our Heavenly Father, in all that He said and all that He did.

I know that there are many who find that hard to believe and the reason I personally know that, is that for a large percentage of my life, I personally didn’t believe it either. But part of this equation, where we are conscious of our own being, and being alive, is this thing called “grace”. The word “grace” means unmerited favour. That is where something good that is beyond our understanding is bestowed upon us by the one who is good and can do this, onto one who in and of himself or herself, deserves no consideration for the goodness that is being bestowed, by the other.

And that, in simplicity, is what Jesus is all about. The goodness of God, being bestowed, upon those who do not deserve. And the “those who do not deserve” would be you and it would be me. There are literally none who fall outside of this category. Not one. And in fact, this goodness of God is available to everyone who has been given life, but it must be accepted and be believed, to be received. It is a gift that is not deserved but offered nevertheless, because of the inherent “goodness” of God.

And this is where the difference of knowing “about” Jesus and “knowing” Jesus comes into play. Knowing “about” Jesus is not the same as “knowing” Jesus, nor can it ever be. Knowing “about” Jesus is an external acknowledgement of who Jesus is, whereas “knowing” Jesus is an internal acknowledgement of His Lordship as the Messiah, the Son of God and Saviour of ourselves. And His Lordship is a daily walk, just like Jesus said it is, in everything thing that we think and everything that we do.

The route to this realization can be long, because of our need to maintain control and be our own god, where we decide what is right and what is wrong and how our decisions are applied both to ourselves and to others. And interestingly enough, it is only when we surrender this control, when we earnestly seek to listen to what Jesus says and follow the will of God as expressed in the Word of God (the Bible), that we truly begin to increasingly comprehend the extent of our own limitations and inadequacies.

Sometimes it scares me when I consider some of the things that I have said to others and done, even now, as a professing Christian. I have made an awful lot of mistakes, spoken when I should not have spoken and judged when I should not have judged. Judging other Christians is not wrong as long as one is not being a hypocrite when doing so and it is being done in love. With those two criteria in place, in hindsight, I should have been a lot quieter.

You may be wondering why I have published this particular post. This morning, while in prayer, I was mindful of the recent accusations that have been raised against Ravi Zacharias that have been made known on his RZIM website. If confirmed in the final report, it is undoubtedly very sad but it also made me mindful of my own weaknesses and limitations and the part that God’s grace has played in where I am today. And the thought came to my mind, “there, but for the grace of God, go I”. Just something to be mindful of.

Worthy is the Lamb! Blessings!