Is your Christian experience aimless? Do you lack passion or zeal? Do you ever feel lost even though you know you are found? Does your life or church experience ever seem boring? If so, you probably want to continue reading.

If our goal is to know Jesus better and that enables us to follow and love Him, we must remain in Him. How do we remain in Him? We stay connected. We develop intimacy with Him. We expose ourselves to Him. We seek Him daily, even throughout the day. We focus on connecting with Him often. Then we will be able to follow Him, as we know Him better and better.

Have you ever heard how the Native Americans hunted buffalo in herds? They would guide a wild herd of buffalo in one direction while riding horseback. They would increase their speed and rile up the buffalo so that they were running as a stampede out of control. Since they were leading from the front and sides, they would run their own horses to spots near the edge of a tall cliff.  They would stop in time at specific spots where they could escape falling off the edge of the cliff themselves, but the herd of buffalo was moving too fast and out of control and the buffalo continued over the edge of the tall cliff and fall to their peril.

Think about it. Who you follow, determines your destination.

This is a most practical truth. It can be applied very literally. If you don’t know where you are going and you begin following someone who seems like they do, you will end up where they do. I remember times driving down the road to a popular event at an unknown destination that many others were also traveling to. Inevitably, we decided someone else seems like they know where they are going more than we do, so we start following them. Indeed they did know where they were going, but it wasn’t the same destination we wanted to go. Following them determined our destination, whether we actually wanted to go there or not.

Who you follow, determines your destination.

Think about the disciples. They followed Jesus around for 3 years while He was with them. Jesus knew this truth and when he called His disciples, he was very specific to call them to follow them. At the beginning, He didn’t call them to believe in Him. He didn’t invite them to join him at the synagogue for services. He didn’t even ask them to help Him by preaching or healing people. He asked them to follow Him.

Who you follow, determines your destination.

They followed him much more even after returned to heaven. Jesus led with love. He provided the example that they needed. They followed him to their death as well, but what they gained was ETERNAL LIFE! Not only did they experience eternal life, but they spread the message of following Jesus far and wide so that we can still follow Jesus today!

Think about it. Who you follow, determines your destination.

What’s your purpose? What’s your goal? What drives you in the life?

If you don’t know the answers to these questions, you will wander aimlessly in life. A few blogs ago, I described the way that I came to know Jesus, began to love Him and decided to follow Him with my life. Speaking of which, the best I can see, this is the aim, the purpose, the goal of everyone who calls Jesus, Lord and Savior. I say it this way for my life. I want to know, love and follow Jesus in community. As I read through the Bible, this is the aim of all believers. To know, love and follow Jesus in community.

Knowing Jesus. In order that we may know Jesus, we must begin by putting our faith in Him. He left the majesty of Heaven from all eternity to enter our miserable experience on this earth (in comparison). He became one of us. He was 100% man. (also 100% God) He experienced everything we experience. He taught us how to live. He lived a sinless life. Then he went to the cross to pay the price for our sins since we have all sinned and fallen short of His glory. He died on a cross, crucified for our sins and if we put our faith and trust in Him, he will forgive us of our sins, purify from all unrighteousness and make us clean once again. He adopts us into his family, makes us new, and fills us with his Holy Spirit. This experience when we put our faith and trust in Him is the beginning of knowing Jesus. We begin to know Him personally. Yes, anyone can read the Bible, learn facts about the person of Jesus, but to know Him personally we must begin with a personal relationship that begins with faith and trust in Him for redemption and new life.

As a believer, Jesus goes with us everywhere we go in the form of the Holy Spirit. He lives within us. He empowers us. He enable us to live for Him. He teaches us new things all the time, if we will listen. Speaking of listening, if we want to know Jesus, we must be willing to listen to Him. Just as we go through life learning what it means to be human or a part of our family or a US citizen from our experiences, we learn what it means to be a son or daughter of Christ. We learn what it means to be a part of the family of God. We learn what it means to live according to love and the spirit instead of by rules and regulations. If we want to know Jesus, we must listen to Him through the Word. We must read his love letter, the Bible so that we may know the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and how they interact and share their love with us. We must listen when we pray. We must listen when the more mature and those gifted teach. We must listen in our communities of faith. We must listen through our experiences as we go through life so that we do not miss valuable lessons that the Father wants to teach us. Then, we will begin to know Him.

There are many challenges we have in knowing Jesus. Too often, we depend on others and know Jesus only by what others say or teach. While it is very helpful to allow others to teach us and tell us about Jesus, the amazing part of the Christian life is that we can know Him personally and directly. Sit down by yourself and read the Bible. Pray and talk to Jesus. Be sure to listen to what He might say as you meditate on His Word. This is an amazing opportunity to know Him personally. Spend time in personal worship. Spend time journaling to Him about your experiences and how you would love for Him to interact with you. Never neglect your personal relationship for the poor substitute of hearing about someone else’s relationship. However, once you grow and develop your personal relationship, you can continue to know Jesus through other believers who also know Him. After all, God has gifted others with the gift of teaching, preaching, prophecy and the like.

Our first goal, challenge, purpose in life is to know Jesus. Without doing that, we lose the ability to love and follow Him. More on those in the next few blogs. Today, ask yourself, how am I getting to know Jesus better? How am I taking advantage of the opportunity to spend time with Him? How am I neglecting that? What do I need to do to put first things first?