Fariza

There is a question that has been sitting on my heart for a while, one that I believe the Western church desperately needs to wrestle with: Do you actually know Jesus?

Not know about Him. Know Him.

You see, as followers of Christ, we have to ask ourselves: what do we actually believe? If we truly believe that Christianity is a relationship with the One true God, then why does that relationship so often become our last priority?

If, as Christians, we believe that every human being made in the image of God was created for Him, then why do we spend our lives living for other gods?

Why do we treat our relationship with the Creator of the universe as if He were nothing more than a vending machine?

God is holy, and He cannot be mocked!

As Christians, we also have to understand that going to church every Sunday doesn’t make us Christ followers. A follower follows the will of the Father and is not just merely a warm body occupying a seat in a building once a week.

Buildings don’t transform people — a true, genuine, and intimate connection with Someone you know does. And this is precisely why simply calling oneself a Christian doesn’t actually make someone one.

You can spend your entire life in church, memorize the Bible, go on a mission trip, tithe, and do ministry, and completely miss out on knowing who God of the Bible is.

I have unfortunately met way too many Christians who proclaim that they know Him, but their hearts and deeds were way too far from the teachings of Jesus Christ.

When the Bible says that on the Judgment Day, God will say, “Depart from Me, I never knew you,” that warning is addressed primarily to people who claim to know Christ but do not truly follow Him.

A true follower of Christ is known by their fruit.

Growing fruit takes time, patience, and a lot of hard work. When St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 9 that the Christian life is like a race — one that demands discipline, intention, and sacrifice — it’s because it is. We are running towards something eternal.

Life is a race!

When you genuinely surrender your life to Christ, He takes you on a journey of transformation. He never lets you stay the same. In that process of sanctification, He begins to strip you of all the dirt and grime of sin. He saves you from yourself. Everything you once believed to be true about life, He destroys. Every worldly idea, every generational curse, every trauma, every mindset that has been fed to you by your family, heritage, culture, and even the church — He removes.

Every idol you have been taught to place on a pedestal, He smashes onto a concrete floor.

He bathes you, dries you off with a clean towel, and anoints your body with fragrant oil, clothes you in a clean garment, kisses your forehead, and tells you how much He loves you and how He cannot wait to spend eternity with you.

That is our King. Humble, gentle, kind, strong, loving, righteous, and infinitely holy.

If you have been walking with God for years and there’s been zero visible change in your character — no growth in humility, kindness, generosity, love — you should be concerned.

A Christian should never stay stagnant in their faith. If you are stagnant and not being transformed into the likeness of Christ, start questioning your position in the kingdom of God.

Repentance isn’t a one-time event; It’s a daily posture of the heart.

Walking daily in communion with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is the very purpose and meaning of life for every Christian.

So, if you call yourself a Christian, ask yourself these questions: Do you truly know who Jesus is? Do you know His character? His personality? What He loves and what grieves Him? Do you spend time simply being with Him — not just asking Him for things, but loving Him? Would your faith survive if He never gave you another blessing?

Meditate on this… and be honest with yourself.

I have been privileged to encounter Jesus in dreams, visions, and through years of deep suffering, and every time I have gone through the hardest seasons of life, I have found myself on my knees, silently weeping, tears streaming down my face, and at the feet of Jesus — my safe space.

Oh, those wonderful wounded feet of Jesus — the place where I want to spend the rest of my life.

Where do you run when life gets hard? Are you close enough to your Heavenly Father to run to Him in moments of pain and confusion? Do you run to Him like a child runs to their parents’ room during a thunderstorm? Or asks for a glass of water in the middle of the night?

Do you have that kind of access to the Father?

God desires His children to come to Him freely and wholeheartedly — without shame, guilt, fear, or distance.

Just like children do.

Jesus wants you to love Him unconditionally and to trust that His arms are always open, no matter how broken or weary you feel.

I once had a dream where I stood near Christ and felt the full weight of His holiness. Even approaching Him, I felt utterly unworthy, not because I’m a terrible person, but because He is that holy. Isaiah 64:6 came alive in that moment: all our righteousness, everything we are proud of, is like filthy rags before a perfect, holy God.

Everything in this life will fade. Careers, money, status, comfort — none of it crosses eternity with you. The only thing that lasts in your relationships with the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

So let me ask you one more time, genuinely: Do you know Him?