I learned something this week: I can hear the temperature of water and so can you!
Don’t believe me? Watch this video. In the video, you can hear hot and cold water being poured. Without seeing, it you can tell which is which. The pouring of cold water sounds different from the pouring of hot water. People already know the sound difference because they’ve have had a lifetime of hearing it, but have never consciously thought about it. It’s an intuitive kind of thing.
A while back, I met a first-time visitor at church. This person talked a lot about how they enjoyed the service and would definitely be coming back on a weekly basis. I said to myself, “I’ll never see this person again.” It felt kind of judgmental, but it was my gut reaction. On the way home, I asked Rhonda if she had met this person. “Yes,” she said, “but they’ll never come back; they just talk a good game.” You know what? They never came back.
I don’t know how we know these things, but having pastored for many years, it’s just something you know. Like hearing the temperature of water, you pick it up unconsciously. Like so many other things in life, we just ‘know that we know.’
Sometimes, we know a lot more than we think we do. Many Christians don’t feel confident in their faith. They don’t feel they know the Bible well enough. Moments of decision cause stress as they ponder what they should do as a believer. However, God is closer than you think. You’re a stronger Christian than you realize. It comes from experience. It comes from reading the Word and praying regularly. You might not feel like you are growing in knowledge, but that’s how it happens. We are learning day by day. “He is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’” (Acts 17:27, 28)
Why not spend some time thinking about what you know as a Christian? You might just surprise yourself.