Just Knowing

Do you know how to read? Of course you do or all of this would look like a bunch of letters placed randomly across the computer screen. So do you remember how you first learned to read? Do you remember or do you “just know” how to read and it comes natural to you? Do you look at a string of letters and have to think back and remember what sound each letter makes in conjunction with the other letters or do you “just know” that W-O-R-D spells word?

What about mathematics? To add 2+2 do you have to free up your hands count out 1-2 on each index and middle finger, place your hands side by side and then count 1-2-3-4 and come up with the sum of 4 as the answer? Or do you “just know” that it equals 4? How about 10+10? Do you have to take off your shoes and socks, count all of your toes and then all of your fingers and then come up with 20? Or do you just know that you have 20 appendages hanging from your limbs?

These are things that you may have learned along the way down life’s roads, but they have also become second nature to you. They are engrained into your being so deeply that you do not even have to think about them to “just know” how to read (unless it’s a word like “Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis” which is the longest word in the English language). You “just know” how to put all of the letters together to form words.

Now let’s try to apply this to the spiritual realm. What do you “just know”? As humans we stand apart from animals in that we have a thought process and do not rely on instinct in order to live. We are unique creatures that were given reign over all things of the Earth (Genesis 1:26). We have also been given a conscience to “just know” what is right from what is wrong (Romans 2:14-15, Jeremiah 31:33, 2 Cor. 3:2-3, Psalm 119:11). I am not undermining the sanctification process, but some things a person will “just know” after their conversion. A person will be born anew (John 3:7) by the Spirit and the Spirit will bare witness in their heart (Romans 8:16, Acts 18:5, Gal. 4:6) when they do start following a path or series of motions that are not in accordance with the Lord and will “just know” they must turn from that particular sin. All of the talk that a Christian can be carnal or in a continual state of backslidingness (I just made that word up) is gibberish and heretical and sends millions of souls to hell every year. A true convert no longer has the sin nature and instead has been given a new nature that the Father changes, not the individual.

So with the new nature that God Himself transformed in a person there are a lot of things that the person will “just know”. They will have new desires, they will strive to please the Lord and obey Him. Not because they must perform to be saved (or possibly lose their salvation) but because their new nature desires to please the Lord in every way. Just as a child fears their parents in love, not a fear that is afraid of a spanking but a fear that doesn’t want to disappoint or go against what their parents say. We desire to please the God that created and saw fit to save our souls, which in affect saves us from the painful life of sin. Wow! That’s good. God saves us continually from ourselves and our original fallen nature, by replacing that with His nature. Not that we can’t sin, but we can’t continually live a life of sin.

Easy believism is prevalent these days. Probably because each generation changes the Word and trades it for more lies (Rom. 1:25 all of Jude). You see this more and more with books such as Blue Like Jazz, Velvet Elvis and more recently The Shack that have taken professing Christians by storm into a new belief system. The likes of Rob Bell, Brian McLaren and Erwin McManus are the larger voices of the postmodernism movement that claim Christianity as their beliefs. This is not to even mention the church of Oprah, which is ecumenical, new age and all inclusive. They say that no one religion is correct and that all roads lead to God. This is in direct opposition to what the Word of God says. Jesus said Himself in John 3:18 and John 14:6 that He is the only Way (and then throughout other scriptures Acts 4:12, 1 John 2:23, Romans 5:21, 1 John 5:11. A strong word of caution, if anyone claims to know Christ and is in blatant disregard for what the Word say’s then they are a liar and are not a Christian. If a person says they are a Christian and support abortion, they are in denial of much of scripture. This is the same with someone that lives a life of lies, promiscuity, drunkenness and so on. God’s Word is clear that these people are deceived and are in danger of hellfire. But this is prevalent in theology these days, that all you have to do is make a decision, walk an aisle or say a prayer and BAM! You’re in. I will say that there will be a BAM when God saves you and it will be your heart being recreated to love the Lord instead of living a life of sin. You will “just know” that God has done a work in you that you can not change. Imagine jumping off the Empire State building and having an encounter with the ground. Could you change the fact that you were changed on impact? Not at all. Could you change the fact that you hit the ground and splattered? Nope. So how could and encounter with the God that created everything be changed by you? It can’t be changed.

I urge you to read Gods Word daily. Meditate on what you read and “just know” what it says. Let it permeate your being and allow it to be a part of your new nature. If you know God then you will desire to know more about Him. You will desire to be a part of a body of believers, you will “just know” that you are not complete by yourself and need the rest of the body to survive, to give support and to receive support.