My Read Again and Again Book
View all responsesHere’s the account of an amazing event from the book that I read every day, over and over again. It a tale of two cities about a trip from Jerusalem to Damascus.
Saul of Tarsus had great religious knowledge, but that knowledge didn’t bring Him into a relationship with Christ. All he had been taught didn’t open His heart to Jesus. He knew what Christians believed about Jesus, yet he wanted to throw them in jail for it.
Then one day on a road trip from Jerusalem to Damascus Saul’s theology was tripped up by the presence of the risen Jesus. From down on the ground, He asked: “Who are you, Lord?” Jesus replied: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
When Saul opened his eyes, he realized that he was physically blind. As he got up to go into the city, he was beginning to see the presence of Jesus as he caught inner glimpses of spiritual realities that can’t be taught.
Here’s what Paul wants us to know about His conversion: “I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.” (See Galatians 1:11-12.) He went from Saul of Tarsus to Paul the Apostle–from taught to caught.
Religious information is learned by study. Relationship with Jesus is acquired thru direct personal revelation from God. Christianity isn’t produced by church attendance, but by acquiring an acute awareness of the actual and ongoing presence of Jesus. The more closely you associate with and surrender to the risen Jesus, the more you acclimate to His presence and acquire His character.
True faith in Christ is acquired by direct personal revelation from God and an intimate relationship of continual submission to the presence and Lordship of the living Jesus. Christianity’s not a religious curriculum learned thru lecture but a relationship with Jesus acquired thru ongoing surrender.
The purpose of human life is not mere existence. The purpose is to acquire an eternal relationship with God by ever aligning your consciousness and lifestyle with the risen Jesus and allowing Him to grow the fruit of His Spirit in your innermost being.
Jesus couldn’t be contained and controlled by routine religion in the first century and He can’t be today either! Look beyond religious routine and ever surrender to the living, resurrected Jesus!
I believe that churches make a big mistake by trying to teach Christianity as if it is an academic subject. I think that churches would be much more effective if they would cultivate an environment where people can freely open their hearts to one another and share how the risen Jesus has worked and is working in their life.
Here’s the bottom line: Faith in Christ isn’t something that can be taught. It’s acquired by being caught thru direct, supernatural revelation from God.
You can go to church,
Study the Bible,
And even sing in the choir,
Yet still not acquire
Christ’s spiritual fire
Burning within you.
Let Jesus ignite you
With His heart fire!
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