What does it mean to know the Lord? If you asked a Christian if he knew the Lord, he would answer, “Yes, I know the Lord!” But when the Scriptures talk about knowing the Lord, it means something much more than knowing about Him. It means to know Him by experiencing His Life.
When a husband and wife first got married, they knew about one another. But after they lived together for a period of years and shared one another’s life, they really knew one another. His life entered her life and her life entered his life. Now the marriage ceremony of oneness became a reality. This is the way it must be with the Lord and us. Just becoming a Christian is not enough; we must enter His Life and He must enter our lives. There must be an interpenetration of one another until we are like the vine and branches in John chapter fifteen, unable to tell where the vine stops and the branches begin.
How sad it is when a person becomes a Christian and thinks he has all that can be had, that he has Jesus in his heart and has received the Holy Spirit and he is ready to go to heaven. By assuming to have more than he really has, he has closed the door to receiving more. I met a pastor of a particular denomination a couple of years ago that told me he had received all that could be had when he got saved, and that it was impossible to miss heaven. He said that he could walk away from the Lord and live like the devil and the Lord would draw him back in before it was too late. It’s bad enough for him to believe that, but the greatest tragedy is all the people under his ministry who will believe the same thing. He will never really know the Lord and neither will those who accept his ministry.
Before the Lord Jesus ascended He said, “Lo, I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20). We are thankful He is with us, but we need more than that. We need Him in us. When He says, “I am with you,” He is saying, “My presence is available to you; My life is available to you.” The initiative is ours – begin entering His Life by appropriating Him. When we take steps to enter His Life, then He takes steps to enter our lives – Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you (James 4:8).
You can be a Christian and just know about Him or you can be a Christian that really knows Him because you have entered His Life and He has entered your life. The choice is yours. He is available, and the promise of II Thessalonians 1:10 will begin when you take the initiative to enter His Life – He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe. Enter His presence and He will enter your presence.
Copyright © 2000 by Henry DuBose