"If We Know..."

When I was younger and I first heard the quote "Knowledge is Power." I felt so empowered. It was as if I just swallowed a mental super pill and I could intellectually lift a 5 billion ton mountain. All I got to do is read hecka books, learn tons of things, watch hecka movies (b/c I learn a lot from movies, especially about leadership stuff from Brave Heart, Lean On Me & Remember The Titans), and take a lot of classes in college so that I have all the power I need to succeed. But the more I have grow and seen how much information our world has, I have thought, "If we 'know' so much about relationships, especially in the West, how come our relationships are still so jacked up? If we 'know' so much about changing oursevles and changing the world, then why do we still seem so powerfuless?"

Could I keep it real? Since being married I have thought, "If we have all these books on women, why do guys still not seem to know & understand them?" One thing that marriage has taught me, along with all the realities that my wife is super amazing, compassionate, loving & SUPER FORGIVING (praise Jesus for an awesome wifey), is that just because I may  think I 'know' something or someone doesn't mean that my knowledge is true or intimate...

Me & my wife were once window shopping (yea guys, if you got something to say come say it to my face) and I saw a book titled, "All That Men Know About Women." At the time we were dating & preparing for marriage so I was like, "Oh thank you Jesus, I hecka need to read this!" I excitedly picked up the book, turned to the title page and began to flip through the pages expecting some deep revelation into the mystery of this amazingly wonderful being the Lord has blessed me with. "Hold up, there's got to be some kind of mistake," I thought. All the pages were BLANK!!! "Wow," I thought, "I just got played..."

The more I have grown in my relationship with my wife I have realized that I can read all the books in the world on women, those that are blank & those that are filled with billions of words, but just because I may have a working knowledge of what a woman is, what she does, how she thinks, what she wants, what makes her feel good or what hurt her feelings, doesn't mean that I know my wife. And the more that we have grown in relationship I have realized that even the things that I thought I knew about her pale in comparison to the ever increasing knowledge I am growing in of who she is.

I have began to realize that just having knowledge about something does not make me powerful in that field to bring transformation. Just knowing how to make some bomb Chile Verde doesn't mean that I can make it & just knowing how to communicate in a healthy way with my wife doesn't mean I will choose to do it. Knowledge is not powerful unless it is true knowledge, believed in & intentionally acted upon.

The longer I have been married the more my wife longs for me to know her. But, not just from an objective knowledge. She desires me to understand her, gain a true knowledge of who she is from sitting & talking with her, touching her, taking her to the movies, cuddling with her, looking into her eyes, feeling her joy, feeling her pain & all those other amazing ways a husband gets to know his wife experientially, glory! In growing in my knowledge of her, experiential knowledge of her, I am being empowered to love her greater! In the same way, God's desire is not that we just know facts about him, have perceptions about him or read books about him, but to grow in a deep, intimate, experiential knowledge of him through his Son Jesus. He desires that I would reach out to him & and find him.

Many times in our relationships with God we have these facts about who He is, perceptions that we hold too & assumptions that we have always believed, but we don't have an intimate knowledge of who He. God has revealed Himself in the world & His word & desires for us to know Him. Paul says in Acts 17:27 that God has 'determined the times set for them (us) and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.'

Surface level relationships are never satisfying. How deep would my love grow for my wife if we got married, but never talked, never spent time together or never revealed anything else about ourselves except what we revealed during our dating period? That would be horrible! I'm not satisfied with a 'dating' relationship with God. I'm not interested in just going out on a few 'excursions,' having a couple 'spontaneous experiences,' or go to 'services' where I can just hear good things about God. I don't just want to have a 'working' knowledge of God, I want to know his heart. I want to experience him! I want to reach out for him, lay hold of all that he has for me & allow my knowledge of him to bring transformation in my life & world. I want to do what Paul did & say as Paul said, "But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:13-14).

A surface level knowledge of God won't do anything... I want my knowledge of God to lead to the power of God working in & through my life. I want to know God & make him known... what about you?