"Did you say this from yourself...?"

     The title of today's blog is from a conversation Pilate was having with Jesus. Pilate wanted to know, probably out of curiosity as much as political inquisition,  if Jesus was the "King of the Jews". Of course in those days there was only one king and that was Caesar. But not to stray away from the point, Pilate did not have any idea who Jesus was. Jesus with piercing acuity put his finger right on the topic of this blog. Jesus asked "Is this something you knew yourself or did somebody else tell you?"(John 18:34) The hearsay, he/she said, they told me, I'm just repeating it, good old gossip. Is this your experience Pilate? Pilate was not interested in the truth. He confessed he didn't know the truth. If he had been open to the truth He was standing right in front of him. Lack of revelation can lead us to make wrong judgements.
      The lack of revelation often leads to the invention of lies. Peter not knowing that Christ was SUPPOSE to die, voiced his infamous "God forbid" statement that almost got his name changed to "Satan". Try building a church on that name. Well I guess some have. Anyway, lack of revelation often leads us down the wrong direction. One thing you have to say about doubting Thomas, who has borne that identity for many, many years, probably unjustly, is that he demanded an experience. He was not going to base the rest of his life on hearsay. Experience often brings about solid revelation and change. In fact Christianity is experientially based in faith.  Does that mean that I have to experience it before I believe? Not usually. Usually it is that we have faith and the experience follows. The one hundred and twenty had faith to wait in the upper room also one might argue that Thomas was in that upper room too when he had his experience. But this is not about Thomas, or Satan, I mean Peter, but about you and me. Is our faith based on what others are saying? On something that we know is good because our social group thinks it is? Or more scary, it is true because our church group thinks it is. There is a good way to tell. If we are changing then the Lord is revealing Himself to us.

      The early Christian had no liturgy to recite, no apostle's creed, no liturgical doctrine that warmed their hearts with inclusion and acceptance. They had to experience it. It is what John talked about in first John. "That which we have seen and heard, and touched with our hands concerning the word of life, we proclaim to you". It was a physical experience. One they could never fully forget. But there is a more important reason for having a revelation of the Lord than a good memory. It is because through revelation we are changed.
     In his booklet Revelation, Precipitates Change, author/preacher J.R. Stevens said, "Change is a by-product of revelation. To whatever extent God reveals Himself to you, to that extent you will change". We are not changed by hearsay,  dead liturgy (not that liturgy is dead, but it can be) or meaningful social groups, we are changed by beholding Him. Again in 1st John chapter 3 the evangelists said, "It does not appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like Him: for we shall see him as He is." Is the Lord appearing to us in His word, or while we worship, or at work, or loving one another? The litmus test; Are we changing?