I know my own and my own know me,

I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

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The words of this passage bring to mind this refrain from an old praise chorus:

"Knowing you, Jesus, knowing you. There is no greater thing."

Knowing Jesus is not a theological theory or an abstract philosophy. There is no more important issue in life. Knowing Jesus transcends the theological, the intellectual and the emotional. Knowing Him is not limited to male or female, black or white and Jew or gentile.

To that last issue Jesus speaks and says that, at that time, there was sheep outside of the Jewish fold. God's desire from the very beginning has been to know every human being and for them to know Him. It has never been about gender, race or ethnicity because faith has no regard for such things. Knowing Jesus is not an issue of the flesh but one of the spirit.

Lord, I want to know you more. Open my inner eyes to see and my inner ears to hear.