“What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.”
Philippians 3:8
In the early seventies, the country music of John Denver took the States by storm, and I was his biggest fan. When my sister and I learned that John Denver would be appearing in a concert nearby, I sent him one of my charcoal drawings, invited him to dinner, and asked if we could meet backstage. To make a long story short, the closest I got to him was row 57, seat DD. A year later I received a letter of three sentences thanking me for the drawing.
Looking back, I am amazed that I actually believed that John Denver was my friend. It was crazy to think that he would want to see me and come to dinner at our farm after the concert. How ridiculous! For although I memorized the fact sheets about John Denver, including all the words to every one of his songs, I did not know him. My knowledge of him was an illusion.
Saul of Tarsus excelled all his classmates and contemporaries in learning about the God of the Bible. He was able to quote Scripture at great length and leap tall doctrines in a single bound. He was faster in a debate and more powerful than any other Pharisee. Every time he persecuted a Christian, he thought he was fighting for truth, justice, and the excellent way of God. But Saul’s knowledge of God was an illusion.
One day under the hot sun on the road to Damascus, the One about whom Saul had studied spoke from heaven. In that moment the man who knew all about God from his earliest childhood began to know God for the first time.
Lord, I confess that I know more about You than really know You. I don’t want it to be that way. Never, never do I want my knowledge of You to be an illusion. Help me to consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing You.
