REAL EXPERIENCE!

An interesting concept is found in the book mentioned in the last post. . . "The Word Became Flesh." E. Stanley Jones attests to a desire to know God first hand. The opposite of such an idea is where we rely only on another person's experience.

It would be like having someone else describe what a prime rib was like but never actually taking a bite for yourself. Ya, you hear about the texture and the flavor and the smell but you miss the taste all together. Jones put it this way. . . "Regarding God, I shall be not a second hander but a first hander."

The Apostle Paul put it this way: "For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." (I Cor. 2:2 NKJ) First hand experience is so important. When we live by the experience of others we are cheated. Cheated by not having all the facts, all the emotions all the support and knowledge offered by one's own experience. It is like playing the game where we share a secret to a person in the circle until it comes back to us. By that time the secret is blown out of proportion. It may not even resemble the facts at all.

I would, like Paul, want to know Jesus to the very fullest extent. Wonder if he is saying that to know Christ and Him Crucified is to know Him the most intimate way possible. To see him on the cross, to hear his words and groans. To shudder at his feeling of desertion. He alone faced this death on the cross. For me, to know Jesus first hand is to associate my sins with his suffering.

Maybe the problem today is that too many have disassociated themselves from the cross. They have not found a relation between their sins and Jesus' experience on the cross. First hand ought to be the cry today.

Lord Bless