Logos Staff
This post on knowing Christ is adapted from In Season and Out: Sermons for the Christian Year by David A. deSilva. This title is available through Lexham Press.
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Paul, of course, was not just a seeker of Christ on Sundays. His passion for knowing Christ Jesus spilled all over his calendar. Granted, Paul was a bit of a fanatic when it came to knowing Jesus and making Jesus known, but nevertheless, let’s allow his example to challenge us.
What are you doing whenever you’re not making the time to know more about Jesus and to experience Jesus’ friendship and conversation? It’ll never be worth more, but is it at least necessary? Important? We will, none of us, probably ever be willing to count everything as so much rubbish for the sake of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord, but are we willing at least to count some things as rubbish and clear out some of the trash in our week for the sake of seeking a fuller knowledge of him and seeking to know him more fully? What will your Monday, what will your Tuesday, say to God about how much you understand the value—the surpassing value—of knowing him, of the invitation God has given to you to know him, to be known by him, to know yourself as you are known by him?
Our most basic currency as mortals is not money but time. I’ve found out over the years that I can pretty much always make more money, but I can’t make any more time. It’s our most precious commodity, and yet we will all spend the same amount of it every single day. There’s no saving it up, and there’s frankly no way to know when it will be used up. In the midst of his prayer on behalf of his disciples on the eve before his passion, Jesus said, “This is eternal life”—this is unending life, this is life without limits—“that they might know you, the only genuine God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent” (John 17:3). We step out of the constant dripping away of time and into that life that knows no end at any point that we find ourselves in touch with the only genuine God and with Jesus Christ.
We’re careful bargain hunters when it comes to our money, but we can be terrible shoppers when it comes to our time—buying an hour on Netflix rather than an hour of eternity in the presence of God; buying an hour on social media feeds rather than an hour being fed by the Bread of Life; buying an hour of browsing in a mall rather than an hour of allowing the Holy Spirit to browse us, strengthening the work of Christ in us and relaxing the hold of the flesh over us; trading an hour for a manicure but reluctant to spend an hour on soul cure.
Since we’re going to spend the same amount of our limited time every day, let’s be sure that we’re getting the best value for it.
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The headings and title of this post are the additions of the editor. The author’s views do not necessarily represent those of Faithlife.
Patrick Slyman
Karen Engle