Who Knows?

Really important words get tossed around like a plastic frisbee at a dog competition. We just fling them out there without fully appreciating them.

The obvious one is love. Without attaching any degree of priority, we say "I love God" and "I love your cell phone cover" in the same breath.

The less obvious one is a two-word phrase repeatedly repeated with annoying repetetive repetition: "I know."

We often say, "I know" whether we do or not. For example:

"The new Air Force One is very comfortable."

"I know!"

Then there are subtle variations of "I know" that are rarely defined. Grandpa says to his grandson, "We used to listen to music on vinyl records." What does the grandson say? "I know."

But does he really? Unless he's at least 40, vinyl is what's on the outside of his house and a record is either something his favorite athlete broke or something his favorite athlete has since his recent incarceration.

"I know" is high atop the list of the most important two-worded phrases of our existence. If I tell you, "God loves you and gave His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for your sins, and He will come into your life if you will accept and trust Him," and you say, "I know" - I pray that you're not tossing me a frisbee.

Nothing in your existence could be more important than "knowing" the truth of that statement personally, intimately, and experientially.

It needs to be knowledge that doesn't just sit in a manila folder in the file cabinet of your brain, but knowledge that brightens the darkness of your mind, soul, and heart, and stirs the blood of your soul to flow throughout your whole being.

Jesus had some fellas say, "I know" after they saw Him do a few miracles. But Jesus "knew" them way better than they knew themselves or Him.

"But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men...for He knew what was in man" (John 2:24-25).

Notice it says, "He knew" twice. John used two different tenses in the Greek language when he scratched these words on a pith of papyrus. The first one means that Jesus is currently and forever knowledgeable of man. The second means that Jesus has always known man and now knows what is "in man" by experience.

If Grandpa sat the kid down and lowered the needle to the turntable, then the grandson would know by experience what his grandfather experienced at his age.

Jesus has always known us. But once He became one of us, He knew us on a new experiential level. And once you turn away from your sins, accept by faith what Jesus did for you on the cross, and invite Him into your life, you will truly know Him.

THEN...you can say, "I know!"

Do you?
Perry Crisp