Knowing God
“And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.“
John 17:3 NLT
Knowing about God and actually relating to Him is, of course, entirely different.
The Bible tells us that God is, among other traits, eternal, just, sovereign, and holy.
“When you come to knowing God, the initiative lies on His side. If He does not show Himself, nothing you can do will enable you to find Him. And, in fact, He shows much more of Himself to some people than to others—not because He has favourites, but because it is impossible for Him to show Himself to a man whose whole mind and character are in the wrong condition. Just as sunlight, though it has no favourites, cannot be reflected in a dusty mirror as clearly as in a clean one.“ C.S. Lewis
The Bible tells us that God wants a relationship with us, that He wants to befriend us. When we begin to develop a relationship with Him by reading His Word and praying, everything else becomes secondary.
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.“ (Revelation 3:20 ESV)
Knowing Him as our friend, and trusting Him as our Lord, changes everything.
“The fact is—let us be quite honest and straightforward about it—the fact is so many of us do not believe God. We may just as well be quite candid about it. If we love God we ought to pray, because He wants us to pray, and commands us to pray. If we believe God we shall pray because we cannot help doing so: we cannot get on without it.“ The Kneeling Christian
If we’re serious about having a relationship with Him, then we know (from reading His Word) that only Jesus can reveal Him to us.
“My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” (Matthew 11:27 NLT)
“And now what do we think of Christ? What thoughts does He call forth in our hearts? Are we for Him or are we against Him? Do we love Him or do we neglect Him? Do we stumble at His doctrine or do we find it as life from the dead? Let us never rest until these questions are satisfactorily answered.“ J.C. Ryle
“And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him.“ (1 John 2:3-5 NLT)