Do You Know Him? (Part 2)

Bible Reading: Matthew 7:21-23; Philippians 3:8-10

Julian and Zane, along with their families, joined thousands of other fans in the bleachers surrounding the basketball court. They cheered loudly for their team—and jumped up and down whenever their favorite player, Anthony Smith, dunked the ball.

When the score was tied and there were only a few seconds left in the game, Anthony got the ball again. “Come on, Anthony!” Zane shouted. “You can do it!”

They watched in awe as the ball sailed across the court and into the basket just as the buzzer sounded. “He did it!” Julian yelled, jumping out of his seat. “They won!”

Once the cheering had stopped and the crowd began to leave, Julian turned to Zane. “Let’s go to the locker room. I can’t wait to meet Anthony!”

“I’m sure they don’t let just anybody into the locker room,” Julian’s mom said.

“No, but Zane knows Anthony. He used to live in Anthony’s hometown. Come on, Zane! You can get us in, right?”

“He’ll probably be too busy to talk to us now,” Zane said, averting his eyes to avoid the look his mother was giving him.

“Then can you take me to meet him later?” Julian asked.

“I’m sorry, Julian, but I don’t think Zane will be able to do that,” Zane’s mother said as she glared at her son.

Suddenly, Julian realized Zane didn’t really know Anthony Smith at all.

At church the next day, Julian told his teacher about the game. “Zane said he knew Anthony Smith, but he really didn’t. I can’t believe he’d lie to me like that!”

“He did lie to you, and that was wrong,” said Mr. Jones. “But I wonder if he also lied to himself. Sometimes we can fool ourselves into thinking we know someone when we really only know about them. For example, we can say we know Jesus because we’ve heard about Him in church. Maybe we can even quote verses about Him from the Bible. But if we’ve never trusted Him as our Savior, we don’t know Him personally—we only know about Him.”

Julian looked at his teacher. “Mr. Jones? I—I don’t think I really know Jesus. I know about Him, but now I know that’s not the same thing. I want to know Him personally!” – Jan L. Hansen

How About You?

Do you know Jesus as your friend and Savior? Or is He someone you only know about? He wants to be your very best friend and be with you every day of your life. You can know Him personally by trusting Him as your Savior. (To learn more, click the “Good News!” button in the right column of this page.)

Today’s Key Verse: Philippians 3:10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. (NLT)

Today’s Key Thought:

You can know Jesus personally