It's An Experiential Thing...

Let me start by making a confession: I have spent most of my life in church.
There...I said it. I just thought it would be good to have full disclosure from the outset.
With that being said, and speaking from a background of growing up in the Western Church, I have struggled with something that needs to be addressed. Why are we so content with being educated about God rather than experiencing God?

Is it just me or has anyone else noticed? I have watched people through the years come through church doors (service after service & year after year) without a concept of what it means to experience God. Content to be taught. Content to let others sing for them. Content to let others pray. Content to be sitting on the bench (or a pew for that matter) soaking it all in. And by soaking it all in, I mean they are just learning another lesson - hearing another story - going through the motions.

I realize that this is not true in all churches. Our charismatic friends seem to have a lot of experiences. They at least seem to be invested emotionally. Lots of singing, shouting, and other external things happening. But I have seen many of them go through the motions with that as well. I guess it all depends on the spiritual culture you grew up in. It's hard to imagine but even the most charismatic can go through the same motions that the liturgical crowd goes through (just different).

What's my point? My point is quite simple. Knowledge in the Bible is very different that the way we understand it. To KNOW something means to experience it. Many of my readers have heard me say this before. In our Western mindsets, to know something is to know about it. In the Eastern mindset, which was the mindset of the biblical writers, to know something means to experience it. It's not enough to know about a chair - that is just information. For them to know a chair means that they sit in it. They fully know because they have experienced it. When Jesus says you will KNOW the truth, He is saying that you will know through experiential relationship. It's not enough to have memorized verses. It's not enough to know where everything is located in the Bible. It's not enough to be the best at Bible Trivia games. NO...what is needed in our lives is an EXPERIENCE with the truth that we claim to believe.

Much of my theology about God was formed in a culture that was very guarded as it relates to experience. They were content to fill their heads with knowledge and I simply followed suit. It wasn't until I was challenged in my own walk with the Lord that I began to look for experiences of Him. I mean...Jesus had promised abundant life and I was not experiencing it. This caused me to constantly look inward. I thought I was the problem. I became obsessed with sin - making sure it was dealt with properly. I just figured that the reason I wasn't experiencing God was because I was still too sinful. I knew nothing about identity in Christ. I knew nothing about His unconditional love. And I knew nothing about the fact that the way I was brought up in Christ was keeping me from experiencing His fullness. This went on for years until I had finally had enough. I felt like I was dying on the inside. I was hungry for more.

The hunger that welled up inside of me (that I now realize was the Holy Spirit) forced me to look outside of my culture. I began to read outside of my denominational framework. I started listening to different preachers. Worship music became a constant companion in my life. I really didn't know what I was expecting, I just knew that I needed Him. It was in the part of the journey that I experienced the Lord in a very personal way. I was alone in my study. I was praying. I was trusting. And it was then that He began to break through. He broke through my preconceived ideas. He broke through the walls that I had built up. He broke through and in that moment the journey took on a whole new meaning. It was then and there I realize that I was created for more.

That experience from 13 years ago catapulted my spiritual life to new heights. Head knowledge was no longer enough. Being about to break down Scripture for a sermon was no longer sufficient. I had discovered an intimacy with God that I did not realize existed. Everything about my journey became about experiencing Him. I remember just a few days later while I was preparing for a message that I was just so overwhelmed with His presence that I stopped what I was doing, laid down in the floor, and spent the next 15 minutes or so in worship. The landscape of my life would be dotted with more of those experiences over the years. To say my life had changed seems almost insufficient to describe what the Lord had started in me. I will be forever grateful.

Please understand that this post is not meant to shame. We all have different experiences of the Lord. What I hope it does is that it creates a hunger in you that only He can satisfy. I hope it will encourage you to seek out all your Father has in store for you. What I have discovered over the years is that I have learned more through His presence than I could have ever learned through the Bible alone. Some of my greatest experiences of Him have come when I chose to do nothing. I just put on some worship music, sat back, and let Him be all that He wanted to be in that moment. It's amazing how He will speak when we quiet ourselves. It's amazing what you will see when your eyes are closed. Your spirit needs those moments.

So don't be content with just another sermon/lecture. Don't be content with filling your head with knowledge. Go after Him with the same abandonment that He had when He came after you. You will not be disappointed. I'm a firm believer that God wants to experience you as much (if not more) than you want to experience Him. This is the life of a Son. Enjoy the journey!!!