Do You Really Know God?
By Jeff Cranston
Author A. W. Tozer once said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” Let those words sink in. The most important thing about you is not your career choice, where you choose to live, or even who you might choose to marry. It is what you think and believe about God. And we know what the Father is like because He has revealed Himself in the person of Jesus.
Jesus came to be the perfect Savior. He came to die on the cross and pay for our sins. He also came to explain God. In John 14:9, Jesus says, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” If you want to know exactly what God is like, just look at Jesus!
Do you wonder how God feels toward people who have made tragic mistakes and are deeply sorry over them? “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more” (John 8:11, KJV).
Do you wonder how God feels toward the religious who say or think, “We’ve got it together, we’re a cut above everyone.” He rebukes them: “You whitewashed tombs! You snakes! You vipers! You religious phonies! You hypocrites!”
Jesus’ life and teaching are expressed in his final prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane: “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (John 17:3, NASB). The goal of His coming to us is that we might know Him. What if A. W. Tozer is right? What if what comes into your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you?
Our view of God becomes low when we think:
He can make us happy.
He is the self-help genie.
He gets mixed with the American dream.
He’s the old man with the white beard that has grace all over His face.
He’s the “don’t worry about anything. Grace will cover it. You can just live however. You know, all those morality things, just kidding.”
Or whether, by contrast, God’s a harsh, arms-crossed, toe-tapping, legalistic, “Why did you mess up?” “You don’t measure up.” “Get with the program.”
Every sideways issue in your life, every relational issue, every self-image issue, can be traced back to a faulty view of who God is. It’s not just who He is. It’s what you actually believe about how He sees you. Take a moment and ponder this question: Who do you visualize God to be?
Let’s try something. Let’s get on the guilt train for about 15 seconds. Your personal prayer life. How long? How deep? How much worship? When do you do it? Is it lengthy? When was the last time you really wept before God? When was the last time you got facedown and prostrate? When is the last time that you were exhilarated in His presence? Maybe it was yesterday or perhaps never. Our activity levels can be high, but our own experiences of God can be low. But there’s hope!
I want you to know that the answer is not trying harder or working harder. In J. I. Packer’s book, “Knowing God,” he talked about four evidences of knowing God. Take a moment to do an honest assessment, and stack up your life against each of these statements:
1. Those who know God have great energy for God. They have a passion to pursue God.
2. Those who know God think great thoughts about God. They fill their hearts and minds with the truths about who God is.
3. Those who know God have great boldness for God. Those who deeply walk with God and know God are not hesitant to courageously obey God.
4. those who know God find great contentment in God. One of the most satisfying results of knowing God is deep fulfillment, satisfaction and peace.
If you are like me, you have room to grow in your knowledge of God. My prayer and hope are that you will be more passionate about God, think more about God, be bolder in living for God, and find deep joy and contentment in God.
Jeff Cranston is the lead pastor of LowCountry Community Church in Bluffton, South Carolina.