In a recent Christianity Today article, Carolyn Arends proposes that “understanding follows obedience.” As an example, she applies the principle to her own experience in the community of faith. While her experiences are not always positive, her involvement in church life in obedience to God helps her to understand the true nature of the Christian life. She writes: “The biblical witness indicates that when God gets hold of people, they almost always work out the implications in groups.” And so she fights the impulse to “skip church” and chooses the obedience of “intentional proximity with a group of people who love Jesus and each other.”
Have you ever tried to explain the taste of some food you enjoy to someone who has never tasted it? It can be quite a task. The best way is to let that person taste the food himself. Then he will simply know what you are talking about. Until he does, nothing you say will really make any sense.
Scripture invites us to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34.8). It is only when we “taste” (obey, submitting our way of life to the Lord) that we will finally “see” (understand) who the Lord is, and what kind of God he really is. The psalmist also affirms that “all who follow his precepts have good understanding” (Psalm 111.10 NIV). And when we begin to know our Lord in this personal way, we will develop a continuing desire for more: “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good” (1 Peter 2.2–3 NIV).
Clearly, it is only as we take the actual step to follow Jesus that a life devoted to him will “make sense.” One cannot properly evaluate the life of devoted discipleship from the “outside.” Until we “taste and see,” discipleship—the things that disciples do—will always appear boring, burdensome, unappealing.
Christianity is all about a personal relationship with Jesus. This cannot be overemphasized. If our religious experience is only knowledge about Christ without that personal connection with Christ, then what we have is not true Christianity. Christ’s invitation is always to “come” to him, to take up his yoke and learn from him (Matthew 11.28). We can know the fullness of his blessings only by experience, not just by reading about it or studying it. And such experience calls for submission and obedience. There is no other way.
—Keith Jainga