The Truth Of Christ Is More Than Just Words

I am convinced that many of us are living a Christianl life that is the product of a culture that emphasizes concept and principle above demonstration and experience.  For example you can attend a business school and earn a degree through classes that are taught by individuals who have never started a business nor achieved anything in the business arena.  What is even more facinating is that their qualification for being able to teach you is based on their ability to teach  - and attending and passing the very same classes you are now taking from them.  Western church culture is often no different.  Seminary for example, could educate you for years on the theology behind the "love of Christ" its greek and hebrew origin, the scriptual context and versus in which it exists but at the same time never introduce you into a living experience of His love - or leading you to live a life that constantly demonstrates it.

The alarming truth is that we applaud and value concept so much that we think we know something when we can recite it or explain it.  I believe that the knowledge of something stems from the truth of it, and genuine truth must lead to an experience and an experience will bring you into greater understanding of what has been made known.  Many believers stop short of a divine encounter because of thier satisfaction with good theology or doctrine. And In many cases doctrine downplays experience and faults peopel who pursue one. This concept, however, should be disqualified by a the world that has been changed by the experience of Jesus Christ not simply the knowledge of him.

Think about it. The disciples were radically transformed through the experience of Jesus not simply the words he spoke.This is why when Jesus spoke his words were either followed by a demonstration of what He was speaking about - or he spoke after a demonstration of Himself in an individual who had just encountered the living God.  We also know that the words of Jesus were spirit and life which meant that there was never a seperation between what was spoken and what was then instantly birthed into existance resulting in some sort of tangible experience.  It is in this light that I propose that transformation does not take place because I know what the bible says or that I can recite it..transformation takes place because what the bible says has been manifested in our lives in some form of personal experience.

The bottom line is that God must be encountered.  If we live and contend for this then we can not be sastified with just words about Him.  I believe that it is an absolute injustice to speak about an attribute of God, for example: His love, His healing touch, or His power but then limit the revelation of what we have spoken by how good we explain it versus what is actually demonstrated and experienced after we are done talking. 

The truth of the God we serve must be validated by a living encounter with that truth.  As believers we are called to be a walking and living encounter of God for others.