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Do You Know the Lord ?

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 16, 1911

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 88, No. 46.

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Do You Know the Lord ?

By F. M. W.

WE desire to address this question to every reader of our church paper: Do you know the Lord? The question is a pertinent one for every reader to consider, for the writer to consider as well. You may be a member of the church, doubtless you are; but there are some members of the church, some professed Christians, who really do not know the Lord.
We are all busy men and women, busy in our individual experiences of gaining a livelihood and caring for our families. We are a busy denomination. We have a great and important message to carry to the world. We are straining every energy to carry it forward. We are selling publications, giving to missions, educating our children for service, aiding our sanitariums, and in every possible way seeking to hasten the message to its culmination. But we may sell denominational books, and yet not know the Lord Jesus Christ. We may give liberally to missions, be faithful in the payment of tithes, strict observers of the Sabbath of the Lord so far as outward form is concerned, and yet not have reached in our own Christian experience a real knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. We may give all our goods to feed the poor, and our bodies for the burning, and still lack the essential quality of love. Are you one of this number? Have you a name to live, and yet after all is your experience a dead one? Is your name on the church book, and are you counted by your fellows as one of Israel, and yet are you really disconnected from the true vine?
What is it to know the Lord Jesus Christ?—It is to know him in all the blessed relationships which he sustains to the human family. It is to know him as a friend, the dearest friend in all the world. It is to know him as a loving father, a sin-pardoning Saviour. Do you know him in these relationships? Do you hold with him sweet communion? Do you confide in him? Can you feel, as it were, the touch of his hand, the beating of his great heart of love? Do you know what it is for him to walk with you and talk with you day by day?
To know the Lord is to know the power of his resurrection in a changed life; not as a Saviour alone in the great eternity beyond, but as a Saviour here and now; as one that cleanses from sin here, to-day. Do you know the Lord in this relationship? Has he given you the victory over your temper, over evil surmising, over envy and jealousy? Has he given you the victory over evil-speaking? He is able to do all this, and added to his great power is his willingness to do it. The joy of the Christian life is the joy of victory, of triumph over sin, in personal experience; and this personal triumph it is the privilege of every disciple of the Lord to have. Is this triumph yours?
To know the Lord Jesus Christ is to know the joy of service, and the fellowship of suffering. "It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: if we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he can not deny himself." When we come to know him as he is and to rejoice in his companionship, O, then we will love to live and labor for him! His service will not be a forced one. We will be able to say with the psalmist, "How love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day."
The path of duty may lead over mountain heights. The road may be rugged and rough and steep. Weariness, fatigue, and pain may afflict us; but even in the pain and sorrow, in the rough and rugged way, we may rejoice in Christ's presence and companionship. That communion will lend sweetness to all the journey. We shall know what it is to sing songs in the night of our experience. Love will prompt the labor and sweeten every bitter draft. The waters of Marah will be turned into fountains of blessing and rejoicing.
Dear reader, are you having in your life such an experience as this? It is your privilege. God does not want us to go on in a cold half-hearted experience. He does not want us to feel compelled to give a forced service. When we continually force ourselves to Christian duty, it makes of the service of God slavish drudgery. There is a better kind of service, and it is your privilege and mine to enter into it. "Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee."
F. M. W.