Do You Know Jesus?

Then some itinerant Jewish exorcists tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those with evil spirits, saying, "I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches."
The evil spirit said to them in reply, "Jesus I recognize, Paul I know, but who are you?" The person with the evil spirit then sprang at them and subdued them all. He so overpowered them that they fled naked and wounded from that house. - Acts of the Apostles 19:13,15-16

We've all heard people say that life is all about connections. It's all about who you know. Therefore, you might not be surprised if someone tells you they were friends with Julia Roberts in High School, but in reality all there is to the story is that their lockers were in the same hallway. Or, someone might say they met Kim Kardashian in a clothing store but the truth is that they weren't there at the same time, just on the same day. As ridiculous as these scenarios seem, some of us are guilty of fluffing up our relationship with Jesus.

This passage in Acts of the Apostles is pretty funny: some brothers had seen Paul drive out demons in the Name of Jesus, so they tried it by driving them out in the Name of "the Jesus Paul whom preaches!" The evil spirit was quick to point out that he knows who Paul is and he knows who Jesus is, but he has no clue who they are and beat them up. The bible says they ran out of there naked and wounded! We could use our connections and think we're religious by association because our grandma's were or our parents are, or even because we go to mass every Easter and Christmas… but we shouldn't kid ourselves, this isn't knowing Christ. We'd get beat up by those evil spirits if that were the case! Knowing Jesus and being in a relationship with Jesus is the easiest connection there is since it's what we were created for. Life is all about who we know, but we don't need any other connections except for Jesus. Getting there is simply a matter of at least one conversation a day and asking Him to show us more.

Today's Prayer:
Lord, I want to know You better. Show me who You are. Show me how I can follow in Your steps and grow closer to You. Open my heart to receiving all that You have to teach me. In Your Name we pray amen.

Lumineux: Letting God's Light Shine
www.lettinggodslightshine.com