GOD'S SEMINARY

There is a huge difference between knowing about God and actually experiencing God. A lot of people know about God. We study theology and argue and debate issues about God, but are we experiencing God? Is the knowledge going from the mind to the heart? This to me is what worship should be. Not just more words or more information but inspiration. It is in worship that we should experience God, sit in his Presence and feel his love and acceptance. This is the “only one thing needed” in the story of Mary & Martha. Martha was busy serving Jesus while Mary was experiencing Jesus.

We have seen this tension before. “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me you evil doers!” (Matthew7:15-23) Again in Matthew 25:1-13, “Later the others also came. Sir! Sir! Open the door for us! But he replied, I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.” And again in Luke 13:22-27, “Sir open the door for us.” But he will answer, “I don’t know you or where you came from.” Then we will say, “We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.” But he will reply, “I don’t know you or where you came from. Away from me all you evil doers.” These are very sobering verses. People who thought they were believers (Christians) because of what they did or knew about Jesus, about God, are now being told by him that he never KNEW them. There was no connection, no relationship, just knowledge and a theology about God.

God doesn’t want worker bees, people running around aimlessly doing things “in his name” for him. God wants a relationship with his people. He wants us to know him and plant his will in our hearts. Right relationship starts in silence and emptiness, not fullness and lifeless facts. God calls us into relationship with him, to be quiet before we speak, to know him before we speak of him and for him. Moses and John the Baptist prepared for their ministry in the quiet barrenness of the desert. Jesus followed in their footsteps in the sand of the desert before starting his ministry and then went out and called his disciples to “come and see,” to be with him for awhile, to learn of him, and walk with him before going out on their own. This is God’s seminary.