Knowing vs. Knowing About

TobyMac is a very successful Christian music artist, producer and author. He has sold more than 10 million albums, won 7 Grammy Awards, and has had 6 number one singles. His music and ministry has inspired millions in their walk with Christ. (You can check out his Youtube channel here.)

My wife jokingly tells peoples sometimes that we grew up with TobyMac. At first people think she means that we personally know Toby because we grew up in the same neighborhood or something, but what she means is that we grew up listening to and being inspired and encouraged by his music. We know a lot about him from his songs, his books, and articles written about him, but we don't have personal relationship with him. We've seen him in concert several times, but he wouldn't know us if we ran into him on the street. We know about him, but we don't know Him.

Unfortunately, I fear that many who call themselves "Christian" have a similar relationship with Jesus - they know about Him from His book (the Bible), been inspired by the stories about Him, and may even be big fans, but if they ran into Jesus on the street, they might know who He is, but He wouldn't "know" them in the sense of a personal relationship (see Matthew 7:21-23). I also fear that many "Christians" will find out this truth too late.

There is a big difference between knowing about someone and knowing someone in a personal relationship. Many people in Jesus' day knew about Him; they were touched by His ministry, encouraged by His teachings, maybe even blessed by His miracles, but never transformed through a saving relationship with the Savior of the world. That is still true today.

What does it mean to truly know Jesus as Lord? The Bible is the clear that we can know Jesus and enter a relationship with Him through repenting of our sins and placing our faith in Jesus alone for our salvation (Mark 1:14-15). "Repent" is not a word we often use in common conversation, but it is an important biblical word. Pastor John MacArthur says:

The Greek word for “repentance” is metanoia . . . Literally it means “afterthought” or “change of mind,” but biblically its meaning does not stop there. As metanoia is used in the New Testament, it always speaks of a change of purpose, and specifically a turning from sin. In the sense Jesus used it, repentance calls for a repudiation of the old life and a turning to God for salvation.
Such a change of purpose is what Paul had in mind when he described the repentance of the Thessalonians: “You turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God” (1 Thessalonians 1:9).

To repent means to make a "U-Turn", turning away from the gods of self and sin, and turning to the living God to follow Christ.

To believe is to recognize our own hopeless condition as a sinner, and putting our full trust in the person and finished work of Christ on the cross to save us from our sin. A relationship with Christ doesn't come when we try harder to do better, when we call ourselves "christian", or when we begin to practice religious rituals. A relationship with Christ happens when we come to the end of ourselves and trust that Jesus is enough for our salvation. We are saved by faith in Jesus, not by any "good works" that we do (see Ephesians 2:8-10).

The message of repentance and faith in Christ for salvation is what the Bible calls the gospel, or "good news." And here is the REALLY "good news" - unlike TobyMac who isn't seeking out a relationship with me (other than to get me to buy his music), Jesus is seeking out a relationship with you. He wants you to know Him, to really know Him, not just know about Him. And He, through the Holy Spirit, calls you into a relationship with Himself; He calls you to repent and believe, to turn from yourself in repentance, and turn to God in faith, AND He gives you the ability to do it.

I know this post isn't for everyone, but my prayer is that perhaps someone who stumbles across this may realize that there is a difference between knowing about Jesus and knowing Him as Savior... and God would use this to draw them to Himself. If you'd like to continue the conversation, feel free to email me at glmiller1965@gmail.com, I'd love to connect with you.