Encounter

Have you ever formed an opinion about someone without even meeting them?  I have.  Media is always trying to persuade me in one way or the other to like or dislike a celebrity or other public figure. And, we can fight every day with the fact that man judges by appearances and evaluates someone simply by what they look like.  

What is most unfortunate, though, is the fact that many of us form an opinion about God without actually meeting Him personally.  We conjure up in our minds who we think He is based on our experiences and maybe what others have told us about Him -- which could be very far from the Truth. We have Him "all figured out " without even encountering Him.  How unfair -- in any relationship. 

As I read through Scripture, I find one common theme in those whose lives were radically changed. They had an ENCOUNTER. They had an encounter with the Living God:  Job, Moses, Saul, the man whose ear was cut off by Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane, the woman at the well, the woman who bled for years and years, the mother who saw her son raised from the dead before her very eyes, the blind man, the lepers, the disciples in the boat in the middle of the storm, the thief on the cross...

All of them have the same Story: I have encountered him personally and I will never be the same.  

Have you formed an opinion about God? If so, what is it based on?  I encourage you today to go and seek Him out. Find out who He is and refuse to settle on an opinion until you know you have encountered Jesus.