"Do you KNOW me?!"

So glad that this passage of 1 John 2:3-17 was our reading today because it directly relates to something God has been raking my heart with (and something that a professor said at APU chapel last week). Ok 1 John 2:4 says "The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him." Preach it John!!!!

So this is my take on the verse and how I'm applying it to my life.
Like many of you, I know a lot about God. And I know that sounds really prideful but let me explain. I'm not gloating to you about how intelligent I am, but you know, after about 20 years of Sunday school you end up knowing a lot about God. I could tell you all the books of the Bible, the creation story, the fall of man, Noah, Abraham and Isaac, the birth of Jesus, the prodigal son, the death of Jesus, and so on.

I know a lot about God.

**Key word: "about"

A lot of us know about God, but DO WE KNOW GOD?
Do I know his character? Can I recognize his voice? Is his spirit alive in me? Are his words on the tip of my tongue? I know a lot about God, but do I know God? I think this is a question that every Christian should sit back and think about. How can you follow and commit to someone you don't even know? Can you imagine yourself marrying someone you've only read about but never interacted with? The idea is insane! Why should God be any different? God wants a deep, intimate, REAL relationship with us. he wants us to get to know him so we can trust him. It is sooooo unbelievably easy to fall into the trap of treating God like a pop star instead of our friend.

So I challenge you, as you read and do your devotions, don't just learn about God (though it is important to do) go beyond that and get to know God. Because if you don't know God, then in the seasons of life that are really lonely and dark, you'll forget the character of God and you'll forget that his nature is good even though good things don't always happen to us. But when we do know God, his character rubs off on us, just like how your close friends rub off on you. This is why the author of 1 John says we're liars if we say we know God but don't act how he commands. If we really knew God to the fullest extent of his majesty, first of all, we'd all fall flat on faces because we'd be so stinkin' overwhelmed, and in that overwhelming presence, we wouldn't know what else to God except follow in his every footstep.

Now I ask myself, "Self, do you know God?" And I say back to myself, "Yeah, I think I know God...kind of...but everyday I'm learning something different. The more I learn the more I unlearn." This may sound crazy (and if any of you want me to embellish more, let me know) but I'm not sure I really even want to know all of God, and I don't think I'm supposed to either. We worship a very mysterious God who according to Job does "great things beyond our understanding." I don't think we're supposed to be able to figure Him our because if we could, then we wouldn't need Him. But the beauty of God is that He is holy and mysteriously complex, and He is what makes us inhale, exhale, blink, and sneeze. But even though I won't ever fully know God, I hope that I'll know God more tomorrow than I do today, or at least have another reason tomorrow on how I can testify his presence in my life.

Wow. That was quite the rant. And there's plenty more where that came from folks! Haha! I have to contain myself on these blogs so I don't write a 5 page essay on whatever I get excited about haha!

Well, may the Lord bless and keep you and may his face shine upon you and be gracious to you and give you peace...lots and lots of peace :-)

Love,
Meg