Knowing Him
This Spring I will complete my 25th year in Christian Ministry. In many ways, it seems like only yesterday when I stood in my Dad’s pulpit and preached my first sermon as a seventeen-year-old. But in other ways, it seems like a lifetime ago.
When I started out, I pastored a half-time church in Northfield, Texas and preached youth revivals near the college I attended in Texas and throughout Central and Southern California. In those days, my burning passion was to help others find Christ-a desire that remains with me to this day.
I was rough in those days. No refinement at all. You might say I was a “hell-fire & brimstone preacher.” But God honored the preaching of His word and souls were saved.
After getting some education and practical experience, I gained some refinement and respectability. My passion wasn’t so much to introduce others to Christ, though I did continue to be evangelistic out of habit. My passion was to know more about Christian ministry, so I could teach others to minister with the Love of Christ.
I taught from the pulpit and from the seminary lectern to whoever would listen. Over the recent past, I added writing as another dimension to that passion. Today I continue to do those things. But I’m sensing another shift in my passion.
Yes, I still long to see others come to know Christ, and I still want to help others be active in ministry, but another longing is captivating me during this phase of my life. I long to know Christ more.
I am pursuing a real relationship with the one who died on the cross for my sins. Not so I can point others to Him, or so I can teach others how to minister for Him, but because I love Him, and I want to know Him more.
People need to hear about Jesus. And they need to hear how to minister to those in need. But they deserve to hear about Him from someone who knows Him intimately.
And that is my desire-to know Him more.
Jim L. Wilson, Fresh Start Devotionals (Fresno, CA: Willow City Press, 2009).
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