One prayer meeting, I was wrapping up the devotional time. I do not remember now exactly what I was saying, but I was highlighting the main point. Unexpectedly, I was interrupted by an unusual source. A voice declared: “I’m sorry. I don’t know what you mean.” And everyone burst out in laughter, for it was the voice of SIRI. (Someone had accidentally pushed the home button of his iPad and activated SIRI.)
Thinking about the incident, SIRI did remind me that knowledge and understanding play a significant role in the Christian life and in the gospel ministry. While it is our love for God that will define the authenticity of our discipleship, such love is grounded in understanding.
Getting to know God through Jesus is not a mindless act. It involves considering the truth “that the Son of God has come,” that he is not merely an idea in a person’s head, but a real person in history who came to reveal the true God. “And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life” (1 John 5.20 NLT). To “understand” something involves “the process of reasoning which leads to perception” (Stephen. S Smalley).
When Philip saw the Ethiopian eunuch reading the book of Isaiah, he asked him, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And the eunuch responded, “How can I, unless someone explains it to me?” Then Philip proceeded to explain the gospel of Jesus Christ. As a result, the eunuch became a disciple of Christ (Acts 8.30-35 NIV).
Describing his ministry to the Colossians, Paul writes: “My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ” (Colossians 2.2 NIV). The ministry of the gospel addresses both the heart and the mind of a person.
A follower of Christ is one who has chosen to direct his love and devotion toward Christ. Concerning this love, Paul prays “that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ” (Philippians 1.9–10 NIV). It is the kind of love that seeks “to understand what the Lord’s will is” (Ephesians 5.15 NIV), and chooses to follow diligently the Lord’s will in every circumstance. For, as Jesus declares, “the person who has my commandments and obeys them is the one who loves me” (John 14.21 NET).
—Keith Y. Jainga