Knowing, knowing and knowing (III) Knowing God

In John 17:3 we are told that the essence of life both abundant and eternal is knowing God and Jesus Christ whom He sent (the word for life here, is the same word used in John 10:10b). And of course in talking about knowing God we are continuing our discussion of the three components of how we know. So by analogy we can (again perhaps a little overly simplistically) compare knowing by logic with knowing God through the logos Word, knowing by experience with the tangible presence of God, and knowing by intuition with hearing the rhama Word. I will be talking about this last thing in the coming days.

In the High priestly prayer of Jesus, from which these words are taken, Jesus also prays for oneness for His disciples. He concludes by saying that He prays these things “in order that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them” (verse 23). So what I am seeing this morning, is that being one with each other, having abundant and eternal life, being containers and distributers of His love, these things are inseparable components of knowing God. Part of this is made very clear in 1 John 4:20 where we are told that he who says he loves God and hates his brother is a liar.

In this same prayer Jesus talks about how the world hates us (verse 14). Elsewhere He tells us that He is sending us out as sheep in the midst of wolves, and that we need to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves (Matthew 10:16). In the face of this, we need a lot of help, I do! In particular I need help to love. I was thinking recently of the verse that tells us that all love has its source in God (1 John 4:19 NIV). And because there is so much hate, and the default response to hate is to hate back, I was starting to imagine what it would be like if the Source of Love was absent in the world. Perhaps this is a good description of hell.

Father, I want to thank You again this morning for the incredible price You paid so that those who choose to believe in You should not perish, but should inherit life both eternal and abundant (John 3:16). Lord it is not all about rules and regulations, guilt trips and even about being right, it is all about relationship with You. Lord I cannot love this wicked and hurting world without the constant refreshing of Your love flowing through me. And too many times I allow self to intrude on that flow. So I need Your forgiveness and Grace and power and wisdom and love, moment by moment. Thank You Lord that You are far more willing to give it that we are to receive it. So I come boldly before throne of grace this morning to obtain mercy and to find grace to help in my ongoing need (Hebrews 4:16). I pray things things in Jesus Name Amen