I have been reading in 1 Corinthians recently, and a few days ago, I read chapter 8. While I usually do not stop reading after three verses, I did this day. The first three verses of the chapter hit me really hard. I could not go on. I just had to sit there and meditate on it. It turned into a meditation I kept coming back to throughout the day. 1 Corinthians 8:1-3 says this:

Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we have all knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant but love edifies. If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know; but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.

   This hit me hard because I am in a full-time pursuit of knowledge. I am studying at one of the elite ministry training schools in the world. I am on track to get a master's degree in two or three years from now. I am in a fast and furious frenzy to get lots of knowledge in a short amount of time. But this kind of knowledge could be dangerous if given the wrong place in my heart.

"I am smart. I know more than you.
Therefore, I have more power than you.
As a result, I am more important.

   In this passage, Paul contrasts two kinds of knowledge. He says knowledge makes arrogant. Here he is talking about "head knowledge." This is the kind of knowledge you would be talking about if you said, "I know that 2 + 2 = 4." This can be dangerous if allowed to gain the throne of your heart. It says, "I am smart. I know more than you. Therefore, I have more power than you (the old adage 'Knowledge is power,' is quite true). As a result, I am more important." This is when knowledge can get dangerous.

   The second kind of knowledge Paul discusses in this passage is "relational knowledge." It is the knowledge demonstrated in knowing God. This is the kind of knowledge you would be talking about if you said, "I know my dad." This is how we ought to know. When we know really know God, our pride is crushed because of how awesome God is, and love springs forth from our hearts.

   I believe it is totally possible that you can be a Christian, and have knowledge about God, but not really know him. I am not saying that you don't know him vaguely and distantly and don't have at least some diminutive relationship with him. Every Christian at least has that. But just like a friend you knew in first grade that you don't really know anymore and haven't talked to since then, it is possible to not really know God that much after knowing him initially when you were saved. And I think that Paul is trying to warn the Corinthian Christians against falling into the enticing trap of knowing about God but not really knowing God.

   This passage hit me really hard because I have certainly felt that relational distance from God lately because I have not spent much time with him. I overwhelmed my calendar with studying about him so much that I neglected getting to know him better. So this is what I wrote in my journal:

The kind of knowledge that really matters is knowing God. Lord, as I pursue academic excellence today, please let me excel far more in my knowledge of you. If you took school away from me, or worse, if you allowed me to fail at school, and in the process I got to know you much better, I would be supremely satisfied. Would you please draw near to me today? I desire you more than academic prowess, but I seem to still be distant from you, honestly. Please help me to draw near to you, precious Lord, I pray, no, I plead. I need you more than my next breath, more than anything.

   What about you? How well do you know God? Be honest. Are you satisfied with that?You will never get closer to him until you are honest about where you are now. Begin praying for the Lord to change your heart and draw you ever nearer to him. And you find that in his amazing grace, he will give you more than you ever asked for.

Adapted from my journal on September 13, 2012:

   I am thinking about the word Hosanna. So often when we sing it, I think we think it means "Praise God!" But it means the equivalent of "Lord, save me!" And if we knew what it meant, I wonder if we would sing it differently. I have definitely been singing it differently lately.

   I need God to save me. I mean, he already saved me at a justification level. But that's not what I mean. I need God to save me at a daily-save-me-from-myself-and-everything-pressuring-me level. I need him to save me from not being able to pay for school, my car, and food. I need him to save me from my own selfishness. I need him to save me from failure to complete my school work well. I need him to save me from my anger. I need him to save me from the agony of waiting... But most of all, I need him to save me from a failure to seek him, to feel his love, to love him back, to know him, and be close to him. I am in such danger of not being close to God.

I need God to save me.

   I need his salvation.

   Everyday.

   In everything.

   Hosanna!

   Sorry that it has been a while since I have written any post. I know many of you enjoy reading these. There has been a lot of transitions going on in my life that have kept me from being online, let alone blogging. The biggest of these transitions is my family's move to Chicago. Yes, that's right. My dad just recently got a job at the Moody Bible Institute as chief investment officer. So I am really excited for him, but the move down here is really stretching our time budgets. Thus the absence of any recent blog posts. But, I am glad to say that I am back to blogging, and really excited to share once again what is on my heart and what God is doing in me and those around me.

   Just like I have been experiencing recently, life never seems to let up. Whenever you think you have reached the end of your list - or are getting close - you look back at the list only to find a hundred more things life expects from you. It never seems to end. The days seem to blur together. The noise of life never ends. And after a while life looks like a child's painting - lots of things going on, but little of it makes any sense.

When we are distracted everywhere,
it becomes difficult to see God anywhere.

   In the middle of all this, it gets rather difficult to see God or to experience His presence. When our attention is stretched so thin, and when we are distracted everywhere - phones, texting, Facebook, Twitter, anything Google, apps, games, parties, sports, television, music, fashion, and so on - it becomes really difficult to see God anywhere. When we let our minds be intoxicated with so much stuff, our hearts are the part of us that begin the process of spiritual suffocation. It is slowly separated from being set on God because it always distracted. And after a while, our spiritual lives feel like they shrivel up and die.

   There is a band that I really like to listen to. The are called Welcome Wagon, and they have a song titled "Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing." I like the way that song title is phrased because it refers to so much more than sexual purity. Purity simply means nothing is present that would detract from the value of something. A diamond, for example, is pure when there are no defects or inclusions. And a heart is pure when love for God is all that fills it. There is nothing else in the will of the pure heart than to be with God and love him deeply.

   The bottom line is this: A heart that is purely filled with the love of God will do what it takes to remove the distractions.

   What are somethings that are distracting you from a closer relationship with God?

   May I lovingly encourage you to stop making excuses today, and put them away?

   The change starts now. Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Resolve to put away the distractions.