There's knowing of someone and knowing someone.

A few years ago I took Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University class and it changed my life. Since then I have paid off my credit cards, student loan, bought a car with cash, replaced my hot water  heater, air conditioner & blower, gone on a few major vacations and I'm debt free! Its awesome! I had lived for years just a bit in the red. Now I teach his Foundations in Personal Finance to my high school kids. They don't love it because its more math but I keep telling them I'm changing their lives.

Now I could read all of Dave's books, listen to his radio show and teach his program for years and I can know all about Dave and his financial principals but I don't KNOW Dave. We aren't friends. If I need advice I can't call him on the phone to ask him for help. He isn't training how to make good financial decisions. Someday some situation might come up that Dave's rules don't really cover. I'm not growing into a financial wizard. I have some good knowledge but there are things Dave gets that I don't.

Similarly I can love a famous person, I'll pick Hugh Jackman- because I think he's amazing. I can read every article written, watch every interview, read biographies, follow him on Fb and twitter. I can know every publicly made fact but I don't KNOW Hugh. I've never met him. He doesn't know my name. He won't show up to help me move. I know OF him but I don't know him.

So how is this like God?

God wants us to be in RELATIONSHIP with Him. I can read the bible, go to church, listen to podcasts and know all ABOUT God but if I don't let The Spirit in, get to know God relation-ally, its going to fall apart. God wants us to talk TO him, not just ABOUT him. He wants us to let him guide our future, not just ask Him if the plan we've made is ok with Him.

There's a reason He doesn't give us a road map, show us his long term plan. If we knew the way we wouldn't need to talk to Him. If I knew the long term plans he has for me I wouldn't need God. He made us to be in community with Him.

If we know about God we can do a lot of good. We can learn what he wants from us and we can act "correctly." I can make a great impression of a Godly person without ever talking to God. The Bible leaves a good description of what it looks like to be a "good christian." But being a "good christian" isn't what God wants from us. Just like a parent doesn't just want "good kids." We want our kids to sit in our lap so we can read them a story. We want to teach them, guide them, love them. I don't just want robot children who say "yes Mommy" and always behave well but don't love me. I want to love them and I want them to love me.

God doesn't just want us to ACT like we love Him, he wants us to love him. He wants us to trust him. He wants to guide us but in order for that to happen we have to learn how to talk to Him and listen for Him.

I recently watched a podcast where a woman told a story about watching a shepherd with his sheep walking through the desert. The sheep all walk in a straight line while the shepherd zig zags through them knocking rocks aside. The woman asks someone what he's doing. The person explained that grass doesn't grow well in the desert, it grows under rocks. The shepherd goes along knocking rocks aside to reveal small amounts of grass for the sheep to eat. When we read Psalm 23 we think of a lush field where we can eat all we want. but what if that's not what is meant? What if God leads us through the desert just giving us a mouthful of grass at a time to keep us close to Him?

It can be really frustrating when God doesn't give us the big picture, a set of rules to follow. But what if He does that so that we stay in relationship with Him? When we allow the Spirit to guide us we stay close to Him. Its scary. Its frustrating. It teaches us trust. Its exciting too. Its an adventure.

I have a neighbor who likes to bring me books. Now this neighbor and I are not good friends. We are the kind of people that wave to each other and maybe stop to have a five minute conversation. He's never been inside my house and I've never been in his. We don't really  have a relationship. I don't know where he's from, what he did for a living, if he has kids or what his hobbies are. I do know that we have polar opposite views politically. Sometimes he will bring me books. They are brand new and they are usually on his political view. From what I have read on the book jacket they spread fear about what (my) political party is going to do to end the world and freedom as we know it.

Now I hate politics anyway. I do my research at voting time and I vote the candidate I think will do the best job but I don't get really into it. I feel like most politicians are only after their own agenda anyway and don't really take into account the people they serve. But ultimately, I don't put my faith in politicians; I put my faith in God. God will control my future no matter what happens to this country of ours.

So I usually take the books, unread, to Half Price Books and sell them. This most recent time I tried to explain that I won't read this book. All I  had to do was look at who wrote it to know that I had no interest in reading it. He wouldn't take no for an answer, just kept saying "read it!" So I thanked him and he left.

I think to myself "why does this guy keep bringing these books? He doesn't know anything about me. I don't want to read his political garbage. I should take him a Bible and say 'Here, read this. It will show you how to live without fear of the current political regime.'" But then I started thinking which brings me to ...

How does this relate to God and the Kingdom?

When people try to evangelize by just handing out cards or books or stand on a street corner with a megaphone telling people they are going to Hell unless they repent, they are doing the same thing my neighbor is doing. They are trying to push their idea off on people who they don't know. I can't imagine this method works. In fact I often feel like this method probably repels more people than it attracts. They showed a picture in church one day of a guy with a megaphone at a college football game. He was trying to preach the gospel. There is this huge circle around him where no one is standing.

We aren't willing to think or believe something that is contrary to our own beliefs when someone is trying to blindly shove it on to us. I find personally that when people try to just shove their agenda down my throat that I dig my heals in and fight back.

That's why God comes to us where we are. He didn't shout out from a cloud "Repent and believe or go to Hell!" He comes to us each in the way that will make us want Him. For me He came through friends. He gave me a new set of friends who were seeking. I liked being with those people so I became a Seeker too.

It goes back, once again, to relationship. If we don't have a relationship with people they don't want to hear what you have to say. They aren't going to believe you. People need to see you doing it. They need to learn to trust you before they believe you. If we want our non-believing friends to come to know Christ we need to go and walk WITH them, not pull them or push them into it.

Think of a horse that is untamed. If you put  a halter on it and start jerking its going to buck and back away from you. But if you go into his pen daily and feed him and speak soothingly to him and pet him, he'll start to follow you around.

Just handing out a book isn't loving. If you know someone and you have a relationship with them and you say "I think you might be interested in this, I would love it if you would be willing to read it and then we can discuss it." is so much more inviting.

Its the old saying "you get more bees with honey." We need to be giving our non-Christian friends honey so they are attracted to us and THEN willing to see why we are different. Maybe then they will accept our invitation to church or to read biblical books. Maybe then they will be willing to give God a chance.