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From
the March, 2003 edition of The Doulos monthly
newsletter
by
Tom Reed
Knowing
God
What did you think after reading the title of this article? Your first response may be "I know God - after all, I go to church every Sunday, and I am even in an ABF!" Or, you may think, as it is said in Romans 11:34, "Who has known the mind of the Lord?"
First of all, just going to church every Sunday and sitting in an ABF class does not help you to personally know God. Secondly, I think most of us know we can never really know God’s thoughts. His state of being is so far superior to ours that it is incomprehensible to us as mere humans. Therefore, we are wasting our time if we are trying to “read his mind." There are two different types of knowledge with respect to our holy, loving and righteous God. They are knowing about God and knowing God. The distinctions between the two are very important.
Knowing about God can be obtained by reading books from your local Christian bookstore. Knowing about God can be learned from your pastor on Sunday morning. Knowing about God can be gained in your home group Bible Study.
Knowing God starts in one place - God’s Word! When we know God, manifestations of knowing Him show up in our prayer life and in our hearts. If we know God, we pray feverishly for others to come to know Him like we do. We are joyful and contented people if we know God; we talk about His greatness at every opportunity. When we know Him, we can’t wait to tell others how He has changed our lives forever. How many of us truly know God? It’s a question we should all ask ourselves.
I believe to know God takes more than church worship, Bible studies and fifteen minutes of "quiet time." Yes, these are important aspects of our Christian life, and we should be involved with them. However, getting to know God requires a deep love and respect for what He did for us by sending His Son to die for us on the cross. Therefore, a natural outflow from knowing God is a strong commitment to follow Him every day and minute of our lives.
As believers in Christ, we should be striving to know God. He pleads with us to get to know Him. We need to yearn to know Jesus like apostle Paul who said "What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things." - Philippians 3:8. You can definitely tell by this statement how much Paul truly wanted to know Christ and how very much he loved Christ.
We can serve God in our local church, read about God in Christian books, and we can learn more about God in Bible studies. These are all important things to do. But there is so much more. As we strive to be that person that He wants us to be, we should be reading His Word and listening to Him speak to us. If we listen close, He will tell us His will for our lives. When we know God’s will for our lives our hearts will be transformed. How many of us want to know God? I know my response to this - I do! Will you join me?
In
Christ,
Tom
Reed
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