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What should we boast in according to God? That we understand and know Him. Wow! There is so much about God that totally blows my mind and I cannot even wrap my puny brain around things like His being infinite or any of the omni's.
But it delights God that I spend time and energy trying to learn more. What could be better than pleasing God?
So what is involved in knowing God? J. I. Packer in his book, Knowing God, describes four things that are required to know God:
1. Listening to God's Word and receiving it as the Holy Spirit interprets it and applying it to your life.
We must read and be in our Bibles. God gave us a book that tells about His beautiful story. If we are not grounded in His Word which is full of truth, then our minds will be tempted to invent our own truths {which fall short and are easily distorted by emotion and culture}.
We need to study God and His Word, "so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes." {Ephesians 4:14}
2. Noting God's nature and character, as His Word and works reveal it.
What is required in order to know another person? Spending time with them. Investing in things they are interested in. Celebrating things they celebrate.
No matter how much you try to imagine another person, you cannot know them until you actually talk with them and find out what they are truly like.
In addition, no matter how much you sacrifice {time, money, energy, interest}, it is up to the other person as to how much, if at all, they want to open themselves up to you. You can only know a person as much as they will allow you into their lives and thoughts.
It is not this way with God. He has revealed Himself in the Bible. It tells about Him, what He likes, what He despises. It tells how to please Him and how to upset Him. His character and nature is clearly described in His holy Word.
Just as an example, see what we can learn about God from the Jeremiah verses above. We see that He is loving, just and righteous and He delights in such things from His children.
3. Accepting His invitations and doing what He commands.
God has commandments that He clearly describes in the Bible. Jesus says in John 14:15, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." I think that is pretty straight forward, don't you?
If you spend time in God's Word and find out what He requires of you and you willfully choose to not obey, then you might want to ask yourself,
Do you really love God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength?
4. Recognizing and rejoicing in the love that He has shown in approaching you and drawing you into this divine fellowship.
God does not owe us anything. He has given us life but we daily choose to rebel against Him. Our sin separates us from Him. It is through His amazing grace {giving us what we do not deserve}, through the sacrificial blood of Jesus Christ, which makes it possible for us to be friends with God.
God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. {Romans 5:8}
This should cause our hearts to rejoice and worship God Almighty! And as we rejoice, we are drawn closer to Him and His heart.
Do you wish to know God better? Someone said one time {I don't remember who or else I would give props} that, "You can have as much of God as you want, in fact, you already do."
Do you wish to know God better? Someone said one time {I don't remember who or else I would give props} that, "You can have as much of God as you want, in fact, you already do."
"One of the most wonderful things about knowing God is that
there is always so much more to know. Just when we least expect it,
He intrudes into our neat and tidy notions about who He is and how He works."
Joni Eareckson Tada
"Being infinite, God is inexhaustibly interesting.
It is therefore impossible that God be boring."
John Piper
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