trials

September 1, 2020 Jfuglerwriter 3 Comments

How Can We Know Jesus?

(NOTE: I’m feeling much better than when I last posted. Thank you to all who have been praying for me. And to those who contacted me with words of encouragement, I am grateful. My back muscles have healed. My leg is still a little numb, but getting better. Believe it or not, I joined a Herniated Disc Facebook Group! Yes, there is one. With 25,000 members).

Knowing someone on earth is one thing, but how can we know the God in heaven?

Good question.

We can’t reach out and touch Jesus. We can converse with him, but not in the way we would our spouse. I’m not one who audibly hears the voice of Jesus.

We can’t go out to dinner together. Or ride bikes. Or spend a day at the beach with each other. Or take a walk together. Discuss the day when we get home from work.

In a sense, we can, but I think you know what I mean. Knowing Jesus is a whole different concept and needs a different approach than getting to know your kids or friends.

Let’s go back to Philippians 3:8: “What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” (NIV)

I did a word study on knowing. I wanted to know what it meant, I guess. (Chuckle). It was fascinating. I learned that the word means to “experientially know.”

Aha. I had made a breakthrough. Knowing Jesus like Paul knew Jesus isn’t about facts. It’s about experience. Head vs. heart. Intellect vs. living.

The word study also revealed that it was a knowledge gleaned from first-hand (personal) experience. In other words, I can’t know Jesus vicariously through my pastor. Indeed, I can listen to the most inspiring sermon about Jesus, but that doesn’t replace knowing him first-hand.

Knowing Jesus is experiencing Jesus. And experience comes from time spent with him. A minute ago I said that knowing Jesus is nothing like knowing a friend or spouse. At the core, however, it is. We just have to go through a different process to know our Savior.

Experiencing Jesus happens in some of the darkest and challenging times of our lives. My wife’s battle with cancer turned into a season of knowing Jesus. We came to the throne of grace over and over again, standing in the presence of our Lord. Personally, I spent many stretches of time pouring my heart out to Jesus, in tears at times. Then I soaked in his love, peace, care and strength. Cancer season brought me closer to Jesus. I felt I knew him well.

My recent pain-filled experience on my back was a knowing Jesus opportunity. It drew me closer to my Savior.

Knowing Jesus doesn’t always have to come in trial. God never meant it to be that way. He wants to know us daily. A close friendship experiences highs and lows together, but mostly the normal in-between seasons. You do life together, enjoying each other.

Jesus desires that we come to know him in all seasons, not only when we face the hard times. We need our Savior every day.

Pursue him desperately. Today.

January 14, 2019 Jfuglerwriter Comments Off on Faith and Chips

Faith and Chips

For some reason, Colorado is famous for chipped windshields. I knew that sinking feeling well when we lived there. I’d hear a “click” as a small stone smacked my windshield and left its mark. If I let it go too long, that small chip would grow into lines that ran across the glass. Then it was too late to repair it.

When I left the state, I had about a half dozen chips in my windshield. Why didn’t I deal with them? Because after a while it was like “whack-a-mole.” Chips happened so often I just gave up and ignored them. Yes, eventually I’ll have to replace the pocked, lined glass.

As we go through life, our faith often is often chipped like my windshield. It’s not the big things that cause the damage, but the little things. And they add up.

For instance, the other day, I was reinstalling the plumbing on my bathroom pedestal sink. We had added a wood floor, had removed the sink and now the fun was about to begin. First, I learned that the water lines were now too short to reconnect to the valve. Then I discovered that the lines were glued into the handle hardware and not screwed in. But I persisted. Finally, after all my work, I realized I had installed the drain incorrectly when it leaked as I tested it with a pail of water.

Each of these little things were manageable in themselves, but together, after three hours, they caused me to shout, “Plumber!”

In the process, I was not living out my faith, if you know what I mean. I was a discouraged, frustrated mess by the end of the night.

What’s chipping away at your faith these days? Sure, we can often lean into Jesus when major trials and hardships meet us, but how about when the little things wear us down?

I often ask myself why I can be a super-spiritual man when it comes to trusting God for the big things, but I’m a wimp in the little things? 

It comes down to perspective. I can easily lose my eternal perspective when I am riddled by the small stones that chip away at my life.

In the big scheme of things, who cares if I get the sink installed tonight? What does that have to do with seeing the world come to Christ? 

If your faith is cracked right now, step back and see the world as Jesus does. His heart is that all people come to know and worship him. He desires that you reflect that character of God. He wants to live through you with his Holy Spirit. He wants you to experience the joy of walking with him.

As you ramp up for the day, or as you close things down for the night, name those chips that are dinging your life right now. Bring them before the Lord and let him do the repairs. Then take a deep breath and get perspective on the things of life that Jesus values.

I can’t say that your faith will instantly become “rock solid,” but it will head in that direction if you make this a common practice.

(From my new devotional Your Life With God: 30 Days of Faith. Available in Kindle and paperback on Amazon).

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