How did you learn Christ?

Ephesians 4:20

I enjoy asking questions, in fact as a professional in the field of selling, you learn the need of questions to uncover problems or to get information, so that you may solve the customer’s problems or needs.  In verse twenty Paul is not asking a question but making a statement: “But that is not the way you learned Christ!”  Often a customer’s statement would cause me to ask more questions and that is what is happening to me as I read this statement.

Paul is not saying; how did you learn about Christ, no, he is saying the way you learned Christ, and they are miles apart.  How did I learn about Christ is quite easy to share with you.  From a child my mother and dad taught us about Jesus Christ, Sunday school teachers taught me about Him as a child, and on Sunday night we had what was called “Training Union” and once more we were trained to read the Bible and learn about Christ.  I was part of the Royal Ambassadors and we were instructed in the ways of Christ.  After I was a man, and had by faith through the grace of God entered into a relationship with Christ; I had mentors who also taught me some deeper truths about Christ, and I must say I knew a lot about the person of Christ, but that is not how I learned Christ.

I began to learn Christ in the weeks that followed, asking Jesus Christ into my heart, when my wife said, I’m not sure what has happened to you, but you have changed.  I remember being taught, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”  (2 Corinthians 5:17)  What I learned that day was Christ tells the truth, I could not see any change, but my wife saw a new creation.  In 1970, we had an unwelcome guest, a lady name Celia came into our lives with 175 miles an hour winds and destroyed our home and all our material possessions.  I learned Christ that day and the days that followed the loss of our home and material possessions; I learned, that I could cast all my anxiety on Christ, that I was His and He cared for me (1 Peter 5:7).  I learned Christ, as my protector and my provider and Philippians 4:19 came alive for me.

I could continue with examples of how I learned Christ, most of the examples come from dark troubling times in my life, and many of them were self inflicted.  Yes, I’ve learned that He loves a rascal like me, who often tries to live independent of Him, and that He is patience and kind, and His handbook, the “Bible” has the road map to life on this earth, and that His Holy Spirit will teach me all truth.  I have learned that Christ cares too much to let me live independent of Him, and He is a faithful friend, a Mighty Warrior, and He loves me unconditionally!

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice