Almost identically it also goes with a living faith. It is only alive if we do not have it from hearsay. Here, too, nothing works without the personal encounter. I can talk to other people about God, but I should also talk to God Himself. I can read books about the Bible, but should not fail to read the Bible itself. My attempt is important, but I also want to give space to God’s Spirit to give clarification and direction in me.

This is an experience that we are allowed to have. Quite so speak also the following Bible passages:

“By hearsay I had heard of you, but now my eye has seen you. Therefore I reject my gossip and repent in dust and ashes.”
Job 42:5-6

“We no longer believe because of your speaking, for we ourselves have heard and know that this one is truly the Savior of the world.”
John 4:41-42

«Wer an mich glaubt, wie die Schrift gesagt hat, aus seinem Leib werden Ströme lebendigen Wassers fliessen. Das sagte er aber von dem Geist, den die empfangen sollten, die …»
John 7:37-39

The three quotes are in three stories. Only the encounter with God led Job to the remarkable statement that until then he probably knew God only from hearsay. But now he has seen Him. The people of Samaria testify in the context of the second quotation, “And many more people believed because of his word.” These had now heard him themselves. And in the context of the third quotation it says: “But on the last, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, …”. This is the personal invitation.

No longer from hearsay, but a direct encounter – that is what we want to receive. That is the prospect when we turn to Him. That is what I wish you and me every day anew.