The essence of Christian life is knowing Christ and maintaining a close relationship with Him so that we can be fruitful. Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ longs to have a close relationship with us. This is revealed to us in His teachings repeatedly. Jesus says in Rev.3:20“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” and again in John 14:23 ““If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him”. In John 15: 14, 15 Jesus goes one step further and calls His disciples friends. “You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you”.
Apostle Paul, who was once a zealous persecutor of the Church later reformed to be an Apostle after his spiritual encounter with Jesus, while writing about his relationship with Jesus in the Book of Philippians 3: 3-10 counts his Jewish lineage of the tribe of Benjamin and affiliation as Pharisee by school of thought terms all these societal and other earthly accomplishments as rubbish in comparison to the “surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord”.
Why is it so important to know Christ Jesus? Because
- it is in Him that the fulness of God dwells – Eph. 3:19 and Col. 2:9
- it is in Him the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden – Col. 2:3
- it is through Him we attain the completeness of our spiritual status – Col. 2:10
- it is through His blood we have forgiveness of sins and redemption – Col. 1:14
In our fast paced daily lives with everything that is going on around us filled with distractions it is possible we may get carried away and not realise the necessity to allocate some quiet time to be spent in His presence and have a relationship with God the Father and Christ Jesus our saviour. But it is essential that we don’t fail to find time to get to know Him through meditation of the Word and to hear Him so that we can find what the Kingdom plan and purpose for our lives is and be fruitful. We can’t achieve this by ourselves; only by abiding in Him can we be fruitful in our lives. Set aside some time during any part of the day to spend in prayer, meditation and get to know Christ Jesus and have a lasting relationship with Him. Amen.