We instinctively recognize when a person is speaking out of authentic personal experience, and not just out of “book-learning.”  And we listen with greater respect.  Often, even if their experience is different from ours, or if their interpretation of their experience is different from how we would understand it, still their testimony touches something deep and authentic in us too.  And together, in that sharing, we both touch into a truth that is fuller than our individual truths.

The key is speaking honestly out of real experience.

The scribes knew a lot about God—they had the book-learning.  But Jesus knew God  from personal experience. And his hearers picked up on that difference.

How about you?  Have you had personal experience of God?

My assumption is that you have, because I believe God is always reaching out to connect with us.

I invite you to take some time this week to look back over your life and notice occasions when you experienced God.  Perhaps it was as a source of strength when you were at the end of your rope.  Perhaps it was as a sense of fullness “above and beyond” that suffused a joyous occasion, like the birth of a child.  Perhaps it was as a quiet and simple sense of presence. Perhaps it was as a sense of certainty about which way to go when faced with a decision.

Notice and savor such experiences in your own life—both the big momentous ones (if any) that resonate across years, and the little, everyday ones that may have happened yesterday or last week.

As you acknowledge these experiences and allow them to soak in to your being, notice that you too can “speak with authority” about God.