The Bible says God made you. Oh, yes, biologically we know how we came to exist. Dad and Mom got together and nine months later, pop, there you came! But that’s just biology, the physical chemistry.

The REAL you God knit together is your spirit and soul. The REAL you God created before there was time. That is an awesome, staggering fact!

It says in Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I made you in your mother’s womb I knew you. And before you were born, says the Lord, I separated you. I gave you a message to the nations.”

Every one of you, when Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead, He was thinking of you. And He knows you. There is not a single person Jesus does not know. The Bible says, “Your name is written on the palm of my hand.”

You are not a number! You are not a forgotten blip in time. You have a purpose, and your purpose involves introducing others to the Creator of their souls!

Jesus already knows those who do not know Him. He already loves those who do not love Him. He suffered, died, was buried and rose for every soul on this earth. He wants to enjoy life with them! And you get to share that life-changing message.

I am 72 years old and I will be the first to tell you the truth that our memories do not fade with age - they are poor throughout our entire lives!

Consider Mary Magdalene in the Gospel of John, when she goes to Jesus’ tomb and sees that His body is not there.

She frets and fears and cries out, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

And the disciples, too, were devastated to learn that Jesus’ body was missing. Even though Jesus had told them repeatedly, “I will be crucified. I’ll be buried for three days. On the third day I’ll rise up again.” They forgot. They still did not get it.

Sometimes even TODAY we act surprised that He rose from the dead! We forget what a staggering thing it is to become a follower of Jesus Christ. But that is the tremendous reality that shapes how you live today.

So today, let the so-called “surprise” of Christ’s resurrection - more like awe and wonder - overwhelm you all over again. You will relate better with those who have not yet begun to follow Him.

Put yourself in their shoes remind them of the truth: He is alive today, having conquered death for you and me!

I once spoke with a survivor of a plane crash. This woman said that she was seated by the exit window on the wing. Just as she saw flames, the plane exploded!

As she was thrown out the window, she grabbed her purse - that was the first thing she did - like “I’m going to save my purse.”

Then she slid down the wing and said out loud, “Jesus, I’ll see you in a minute.” Then she fell and fainted. An hour later she woke up on grass - alive.

The thing that impressed me was that she said, “Jesus, I’ll see you in a minute.” That is the reality of a person who knows Jesus Christ - they talk to Him!

They know that He’s alive, know He wants to hear from us, and know that the moment we die we go straight into the presence of Christ. And then and there we shall see Him as He is. Isn’t that exciting?

Do you know that from your most mundane days to rare and scary emergencies like being in a crashing plane, Jesus is with you? He never leaves your side!

When someone does not know Him, they do not know the joy He brings in boredom, nor the peace He brings in life-threatening situations.

When you introduce someone to Jesus, you allow them to receive the gift of His presence and the joy that comes in talking with Him every day. It is a gift worth sharing!

When Karl Marx was seventeen years old, he wrote a fantastic explanation of part of the book of John that many great theologians agree with.

But, later in his life Karl Marx rejected the Bible’s authority and as an adult called himself an atheist and a Communist.

In the same way, Nikita Khrushchev, the former Premier of the USSR, read the Bible when he was a boy. Yet, years later he made it his ambition to bury the church in the Soviet Union by 1965.

The ironic thing is that now he is buried and the Russian church continues to grow!

These examples show that just because someone may know the Bible, it doesn’t mean that its words have truly penetrated their heart.

So, the next time you’re in a conversation with someone who is talking about the Bible, don’t assume that they’ve met Jesus.

Reading the Bible and going to church don’t make you a Christian. It’s believing the Word of God, believing that Jesus died on the cross, rose from the dead, loves you, and wants to give you eternal life- that’s what makes you a Christian.

Even if your friends say they know the Bible, don’t be afraid to tell them that Jesus wants to have a personal relationship with them. Do it! It’s the best gift you can give.