Does Jesus Know You?

In our Christian culture, we talk a lot about knowing Christ. You will often here it being asked of someone, "Do you know the Lord?" And if that is the only way someone is comfortable with starting a conversation about Jesus, then that's definitely better than nothing. I tend to struggle with how to get a conversation started about my Savior. I know sometimes when my fear kicks in and I don't know how to directly deal with someone who is lost, I can always tell them what Jesus means to me. Almost always I can find the voice to speak of all the wonderful things that my Lord and Savior has so mercifully and graciously done for me, starting with saving me, paying the penalty for my sins, redeeming my life from destruction. There is never any fear in telling of my intimate relationship with the Lover of my soul. I proclaim to the mountaintops this love I have for my heavenly Husband. Yes, I know the Lord intimately through salvation and a growing relationship.

You will often times hear a Christian ask another person if they know the Lord. In asking that, it's asking if they have ever repented of their sins and asked the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive them, to come into their heart and be their Savior and Lord. But we need, I need, to go deeper than that when reaching the lost for Christ. The question that is most important is "Does the Lord Jesus know YOU?!" Beloved, it's not enough just to say that you "know" Jesus, when in fact you are not saved. The evil one of this world, Satan, knows Jesus. Even the demons know Jesus. Matthew 7:21-23 says, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'" WOW!! Think about it. These are not people who never bothered to have anything to do with religion here on this earth. These aren't people who proclaimed hatred for Jesus, loathing all the things of Christianity. These are church people!! Beloved, these people won't be casually saying, "Oh, come on Jesus, can't You just let me in?" Or "Yeah, I know I didn't want anything to do with religion while on earth but can't you just make this one exception and let me in?" No, these people are in SHOCK! "Lord, LORD...look at all I did for You during my life! I went to church every single week. Lord, I was a door greater for 37 years! Lord, I was a deacon or elder and spent so much time ministering to the flock! Lord, I faithfully gave my tithe to the church for 56 years! Lord, I dedicated my time to teaching the children in Sunday school! Lord, I taught bible study! Lord, I baked a pie and took it to a home every single time a mother gave birth! Lord, I talked about you every chance I got with my coworkers! Lord, I had a Master's degree in religion!"

Do you get where I'm going? It's what Jesus was saying in that verse. These are people who thought, really thought, that they were going to heaven. These people claimed to be Christians for years and years on earth. They don't react lightly when Jesus proclaims that He never knew them. It breaks my heart when I think about how devastating that is going to be for the ones standing at the Great White Throne Judgement on that Day. It tears me up inside to think that maybe even some that I know, maybe even some that I love so much, maybe even some that I pray so fervently for, will be one of the "many" that hears those righteous words of Judgement from the Lord, right before being sent to hell for all eternity. Sometimes I don't want to think about it, because it hurts me so deeply. But if I turn it off and tune it out, then I will become numb to the fact that people are dying every single day without Christ. And so many of those people really thought they were going to heaven. Jesus doesn't say that there will be a "few", or even that there will be "some", He makes it clear that there will be "MANY"! many...many... I can't get that word out of my heart, or out of my thoughts. But as painful as it is to think about, if I didn't think about it, I wouldn't want to DO anything about it. And it is the heart and passion that God has given me.

You want to know what one of my biggest fears is? What makes me weep when I think about it? Let's just say that I know someone personally whom I KNOW doesn't really know the Lord. Someone who says, "Yeah, back in 1978 I asked Jesus into my heart. I'm saved, but I just don't really care to live that so-called Christian life. I'm a pretty good person, and I know Jesus understands." Now, suppose I decide that I'm just too afraid to confront their life filled with wickedness and sin against a holy God. Or what if it is a really nice woman at church who thinks that because she is always there and helping out, and saying really nice things, and cares about everyone, that she's going to heaven. Either way, what if out of fear, or even out of lack of concern for their soul, I remain silent each time I am with that person, whether it be only once or twice, or whether it be over a period of years. What if I never say anything and just leave their salvation issue alone. Then on the last day, right before they are sent to hell for all eternity, I am face to face with them. And they, with a grief-stricken heart, in shock and horror, with tears streaming down their face and anguish in their eyes say to me, "Dana, all along you knew! You knew I was lost when I thought I was saved! You knew from lack of any spiritual fruit in my life what-so-ever that my "salvation" wasn't true, and you said NOTHING! How could you do that? How could you go all that time and never even bother to tell me that you were afraid that I might not really be saved? How could you not at least plead with me to examine my faith, to test it in light of scripture? How could you care more about hurting my feelings or loosing my friendship than about me spending all eternity in torment, separated from Jesus, the one that you say you love so much? Why didn't you at least try, even if that meant I might never speak to you again? Why didn't you love me enough to say something?"
What excuse would I have? What excuse would hold water with my Lord? NONE! There is nothing I could say to justify my lack of action. There would be nothing I could say to that person at that time to convince them that I really did love them, and really did care. If I loved them, wouldn't I have at least said that I was afraid that theirs wasn't a true saving faith? But I go every day of my life without addressing the issue with those whom I fear have a false sense of salvation. Why don't I at least just ask them to examine themselves to see whether they be in the faith? (2 Cor 13:5) If I care so much that it keeps me in tears about the fact that I just might have some "many"s in my life, then what am I willing to do about it? Am I willing to risk loosing friendships? Am I willing to be talked bad about? Am I willing to be hated for the sake of salvation for someone else, to the glory of God? Sometimes, many times, most times, I fail! I fail my Lord Jesus Christ and I fail those whom I fear to be lost. I fail! But I plead every day on my face at the throne of all grace, mercy, and strength, to be faithful to my God. He has given me a heart for this problem we have here in America, with such easy believeism. It is here in America and it has hit home with my own little world, and I want to be faithful in all that my Master is calling me to. I want to love those in my world enough to risk having them hate me. For how would I feel if they loved me now, and thought I was the GREATEST, and then hated me for all eternity in hell, for not truly loving them while here on earth? God, please God, help me love!