The truth of knowing Christ

I recently listened to another great Catholic lighthouse media tape by Father Larry Richards who has a CD called, “The truth.” In this tape he strongly exhorts his listeners to “Know Jesus Christ.” He tells us that there are many people who know about Jesus, but few who truly know him. Many go through the motions but are not truly in relationship. Through prayer, and especially listening to God, we can find out the will of our divine master just as the Prophets of the Old Testament did. St Francis of Sales said that “Everyone of us needs half an hour of prayer each day, except when we are busy – then we need an hour!” Father Larry tells us he has spent an hour in prayer every day for the last ten years and that he can clearly say, “I know Jesus.”

What we do with our time on earth determines our eternity. To know Jesus Christ is to have eternal life. Eternal life is so long that our imaginations cannot fully fathom how long it is. If we were to transport all the sand from Bondi Beach to England one piece of sand at a time by moving one kilometre per hour, by the time we had finished, eternity would be just beginning. In the Our Father will pray that God’s will be done and not ours. By being slaves of Jesus Christ we prove our love by being open with our time.

We must prove that God is in charge of our time, our money, our family and our sex life. We must tell our family that we love them on a regular basis. The number priority of a marriage is to get your spouse to heaven. We should be third if we are married with God first, our spouse second and then ourselves. We should pray before sex and before moments of intimacy. It is not a true fulfillment to share your body in a marriage but not to share your soul. Artificial birth control is to tell God that “I’m in charge.” If the Lord is not in charge of our sexual lives he will not be in charge of anything else. If we are servants of God, if there is something we are not willing to give up, it is this what he wants as he calls us to die. Galatians 2:19-20 states that “I died… that I might live for God.” For it is Christ who lives in us if we are crucified with him. The greatest sins that we have are sins of omission.

100% of our money belongs to God. The Old Testament had a 10% tithe, but the New Testament suggests a 100% tithe as Peter called those living a Christian life to give all their money to the disciples in the Acts of the Apostles. To become a true fanatic of Jesus we must regularly read the Word of God. If we sit at the feet of the master, gradually we can be transformed into the master. Jesus will teach us how he wants us to live. Philippians 2:2 states that our joy will be complete by being “of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing.”

St Francis of Assisi said that above all things we should pray and love. This is how we are to become saints.