Have you ever been having a great conversation with someone that maybe you just met only to realize about halfway through that you have no idea what their name is, even though they just told you no less than 10 minutes ago? Or better yet, you are asked a basic question about
someone you consider to be a close friend, maybe even a family member, such as when their birthday is, what color their eyes are, or what they do for work, only to realize that you really have no idea. It’s moments like these that make me realize that while I may think that I know someone pretty well, in all actuality, there is so much about them that I do not know at all. There is great value in having close relationships with friends and family and getting to know them well; however, as Christians, the person who we should be the most interested and excited about getting to know is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 1 John 2:3-4 (ESV) states:
3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
We see from these verses in 1 John that if we truly want to get to know Jesus, then I have got good news for us because we can. The way that we can get to know Jesus is quite simple: “We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments.” Now, I want us to take a second and notice what 1 John 2:3 does NOT say. That verse does not read, “and by this we know that we have come to know him if we keep SOME of his commandments or MOST of his commandments.” The verse says “his commandments,” meaning all of them. There is a sad story in the Bible that is found in Matthew chapter 19 of a young ruler who thought that he was keeping Jesus’s commandments, he thought that he knew him. But in Matthew chapter 19:21-22 we see that the young ruler did not know Jesus as well as he thought that he did. Those verses say:
21 Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
I would imagine that the feeling that the young ruler had at that moment, that feeling of understanding that there was much more to Jesus than he realized, that he, in fact, knew very little about him, when just moments before he thought that he knew a lot, was similar, much worse and on a larger scale, but still similar to the feeling that we discussed at the start of this article. He understood at that moment that if he was to truly get to know Jesus, he was going to have to do something that he did not want to do at all. He was going to have to keep every commandment that Jesus told him, including selling all of his possessions.
I hope that for us today we have the desire to get to know Jesus. I also hope that we understand that knowing Jesus means that we keep all of his commandments. All while understanding that can mean making some pretty major sacrifices, as we saw in Matthew 19. I am extremely grateful for the fact that we even have an opportunity to get to know our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and am encouraged by the verse found in John 17:3 that explains to us that if we do know Him, then we are set to inherit eternal life in heaven:
“And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”
- After reading the story of the rich young ruler in Matthew 19:16-22, what stands out to you? Is there anything in the passage that you have not noticed or thought about before?
- Discuss how we can express to others around us what it truly means to know Jesus.
- Pray that we all get to truly know Jesus and that we can show the world around us what that means.
Print article and questions HERE.