Actual
experience with God is very necessary, not for salvation, but to know
the fullness of all he has for us. We don't know what we don't
experience. The whole point of Christianity, which is a relationship
not a religion, is to know God. We can't know him without
experiencing him.
But
as necessary as experience with God is, it's incomplete. It's not an
end in itself.
Experience
is not:
- The Goal of Church. That would be ministering to the Lord and to the lost.
- The Evidence of Salvation. That would be his Holy Spirit in us, not the Spirit's manifestations.
- The Anchor of our Faith. That would be the Word of God, not out experience.
- God's Stamp of Approval. God's only requirement for experiencing him is a willingness to receive, not the spiritual maturity to walk it out rightly. We need to be pastored through it.
So
our experience, although wonderful and necessary, is never an end in
itself; it's never the point. Jesus is always the point. God is doing
something through the experience to bring us closer to him.
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