do you know? do they know?

I've heard this question asked over and over again in the past few months:

"Do you KNOW who He is?"

The first few times I heard this question, I completely dismissed the question. "Do you KNOW who He is?" In my head, this question seemed rather childish, rhetorical, and insignificant. Thus, I didn't really put much thought into it. Personally, I KNOW who He is. And for me, that was enough. I know that I'm saved. I know that one day I'll go to heaven.

As we often do, we tend to focus on our personal lives. But these past three weeks have really showed me that this question wasn't for me. Sure, it's always a good thing to re-evaluate your relationship with God. It's always a good thing to ask yourself whether or not you truly KNOW who He is. Two weeks ago at a soup kitchen downtown, I had a conversation with this one fellow. It was through this conversation that I realized that the aforementioned question was for Him.

The conversation was lengthy, but in short I simply asked him whether or not he went to church. He said yes. I asked him if he was a Christian. Affirmative. I asked him if he believed in Jesus. Once again his reply was yes. And then I asked him, "why?" And his answer was "because it's what I was thought." This response struck me and it's stuck with me to this date. Upon further conversing, I realized that this man claimed to be a follower simply because of his upbringing. He even confessed, "who knows what's true? we could all be wrong, but this is what I was taught, so this is what I believe." I'm sure he knows who Jesus is. The stories, the miracles, the teaching. He even claims to know. But does he really?

This episode reminded me of the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25:1-13. Ten virgins wait outside the groom's door. But the groom replies that he doesn't KNOW five of them. Thus the five aren't welcomed in. This story suggests that there are people, perhaps in our churches, in our schools, in our lives, that claim they know. But the truth is, knowledge isn't enough. James 2:19 states that even the devil believes in God. Truly KNOWING Jesus involves more than just head knowledge. When you truly KNOW God, you come into the light and you separate yourself from darkness.

This whole situation really caused me to think about the Christian community. It makes me wonder how many are out there that believe simply based on "what they were taught." These people also need to be reached.