“I’ve found,” Stan began, “that an essential part of reading the Bible for me is to look for and find verses that offer questions that provide a “check-up” on where I am in my faith walk.”
“Not sure I know what you mean,” I replied.
“If I am proceeding in my walk with God in a way that I think is right,” Stan said, “without regularly checking with God to see if it’s right in His sight, there’s always the chance I will have headed in the wrong direction.”
“And you think there are Bible verses that do that?” I asked.
“I do,” Stan responded. “For example, in John’s gospel there is recorded a discussion between Jesus and Philip, one of His disciples, that nails this for me. Jesus asked Philip a question that’s essential for me to be asked and for me to answer on a regular basis.”
“What was that all about?” I asked.
“In essence,” Stan replied, “Jesus said to Philip, ‘Have we been together this long, and you still don’t know Me?’”
“Powerful question!” I replied.
“You’ve got that right, my friend,” Stan said. “And that’s why I call it a ‘check-up’ verse. Am I proceeding in the way of knowing God more deeply, or have I been spending all of this time as a Christian without growing in my knowledge of Him.”
“And,” he continued, “it’s essential for me to remember that Jesus defined eternal life as the process of knowing God the Father and Jesus the Son. That’s the eternal life that I am to pursue while I am still here before I step into eternity to spend the rest of it in God’s presence.”
Concluding, he added, “I have to allow the Holy Spirit to continually ask me about the level of how deeply I know the Father and the Son. In addition, I have to be ready to answer that question in all honesty, knowing that I will not proceed in that knowledge unless and until I can see how I did with the check-up!”
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Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? John 14:9.
And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. John 17:3.
Prayer: Thank you, Father, that you have provided the way for me to spend eternity with you when it’s time. Thank you, too, that you have left me on this side of eternity to pursue knowing you and your Son. Thank you for wanting to ask the question of how well do I know you. I confess that too often I have not pursued knowing you because I have chosen to not spend the time with you in order to know you more deeply. Please forgive me. And please, Father, help me in following every step of your lead into an ever-deepening, ever-growing, personal relationship just as you intend. Thank you I can and do bring these prayers before you in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Think on this: Do you think it’s possible to know God? Why or why not? How are you doing with the “check-up” question presented above? Are you willing to have God, through the Holy Spirit, ask you about knowing Him? What does it look like to pursue knowing God as deeply as possible? Are there other “check-up verses” that you find useful?
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Comments, questions, suggestions, and the like can be addressed to S. Tory Teller at: waiting4thetrain@gmail.com.
Waiting for the Train 