“Thus says the Lord:
‘Let not the wise man glory in
his wisdom,
Let not the mighty man glory in
his might,
Nor let the rich man glory in
his riches;
But let him who glories glory in
this,
That he understands and knows
Me,
That I am the Lord, exercising loving-kindness,
And righteousness in the earth,
For in these I delight,’
Says the Lord”
(Jeremiah 9:23 & 24).
This scripture bespeaks no superficial experience, nor is it
a casual relationship, but rather a process of God’s coming into our being at
the deepest level. It is an interweaving
of the Spirit of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords into the fiber, the core,
the innermost part of our being until we declare, “. . .[we] are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens. . .of the household of God” (Ephesians
2:20-22). Likewise, we understand the
truth of Ephesians 5:30, “For we are
members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.”
In our relationship with God we must move from knowledge to
experience. Zacchaeus, associated with
being in a sycamore tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus is Exhibit “A” of passing
from knowledge to experience. It was
knowledge of Jesus that caused Zacchaeus to climb a tree to see Jesus. That same knowledge caused him to gladly
accept/extend an invitation to Jesus to come to his house. So powerful was the impact of Jesus upon
Zacchaeus that he made a life-changing declaration: “Look,
Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from
anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold” (Luke 19:8). With this declaration, right there in his own
household, Zacchaeus passed from knowledge to a life-changing experience.
Jesus called Zacchaeus and inasmuch as we can be bold to
declare, as did Peter to Cornelius’ household, “In truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons” (Acts
10:34), He calls you also. It’s the
grandest invitation in the world to come and know God! Knowing “about” God is information; knowing
God is experience.
As Jesus called Zacchaeus, with a subsequent radical change
in his life, so He also called “Saul” who, after a radical change in his life, became the Apostle Paul, for whom “knowing God”
took precedence over everything else said:
“. . .that I may know Him and the
power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being
conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from
the dead” (Philippians 3, 10,11).
Both Zacchaeus and the Apostle Paul found what they were
looking for and its pursuit became their greatest ambition.
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