"Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal; The Lord knoweth them that are his. And let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity."
- 2 Timothy 2:19
Everything about the Christian life is to this end; getting to know our heavenly Father. There is more said in the Bible about who he is; his nature, his character, and his life than anything else we know about him, and yet, so many believers still don't know him like they should. It is very unfortunate that the assumption many make in thinking that they know God is built upon experience instead of the Word.
I remember when I was just getting started in the ministry. I preached a message entitled, "The Character of God." My emphasis was on God being a God that heals. I brought scriptures together from the Old Testament and the New where it was God's nature to heal just as it was the nature of any father or mother to want to see their children well. I pointed out that even God created our bodies with an immune system to fight against sickness and disease, and that even nature itself seeks to protect it own. I also showed how Jesus spent the majority of his time healing the sick and that he clearly expressed his purpose in doing the will of him that sent him. Well, after the service, I had one of the associate ministers approach me and challenge my message. He refused to accept what I had to say because he had a personal friend, whom he said, believed God to be healed, and yet, still died.
My reply was simply this: "Are you going to deny everything the Bible teaches because of someone's experience?" Listen, I may not be able to fully explain why some people receive and some do not. All I can say is that just because a person's experience falls short of what they had hoped for doesn't give us the right to challenge the character of God! Jesus said, "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" (Matt. 7:11). Even at our best, we all fall short of being as benevolent as our Father in heaven. So how could we even begin to measure who he is by what any one of us may have to go through in life?
If there is one thing that we should all be open to accept it's the fact that God is love. If we know nothing more about him than that, then discovering what love would do should help us discover what God would do! I am not talking about some warped concept of love. I am talking about a genuine love that sees the value and preciousness in every individual, regardless of their faults or shortcomings.
When Jesus said, "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent" (John 17:3), it is clear that everything about the path to life points to this one great truth: Getting to know our heavenly Father must become our ultimate goal. When Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me" (John 14:6), he was enabling us to know the path to that discovery. In fact, he plainly spoke these words: "All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him" (Matt. 11:27). If we want to know our Father, then we have to approach him through Christ and Christ alone. He is the only one who can open our heart to understand and know him like we need to.
So I ask you today, what quest do you find yourself on? Are you searching to know more deeply and more intimately your heavenly Father? The Bible says, "That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God" (Col. 1:10). Every day we should be challenging ourselves to know him, to discover him, and to build a relationship with him so that as we increase in the "working" knowledge of God we will see and understand the true love that he has for us as a Father.*
