“Stan,” I asked him one morning, “have you ever been to the point where you thought you knew all you needed to know about God?”
“Well,” he replied, “to be totally honest, there was a point in my life where I thought I didn’t need to know anything about God. But that was before I accepted His provision and became a Christian.”
“Once I had accepted God’s free and gracious gift of salvation and redemption,” he continued, “once I began to work out the salvation that was worked in by the finished work of the cross of Christ, I have never thought I knew all I needed to know about God.”
“And,” he added, “my deepest prayer is that I never get to that point on this side of eternity.”
“But,” I replied, “just for the sake of discussion, let’s assume you did. What would you do about it?”
“For starters,” Stan said, “assuming I had my wits about me, I would confess, repent, and pray.”
“Confess, repent, and pray about what?” I asked.
“Confess and ask for forgiveness for being so foolish to think I knew all God had for me to know about Him. Then I would repent and pursue the eternal life of knowing God the Father and Jesus the Son.”
“Like what the apostle John wrote about in his gospel account of what Jesus said about eternal life.”
“Exactly,” Stan replied. “As you know, Jesus said that eternal life is knowing Him and God the Father.”
“In an ever-deepening personal relationship, right?”
“Right again, my friend,” Stan replied.
“And,” he added, “I have to never forget the essential role of praying for help in understanding and knowing God.”
“I guess a person could see that kind of help as something the indwelling Holy Spirit might be able to provide,” I commented.
“Not a guess,” Stan replied, “and not a ‘might’. It seems to me that the Holy Spirit is called the ‘Helper’ for that very reason, to help us know God as well as is humanly possible on this side of eternity before we step into His eternal presence and know Him fully.”
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Bible verses to consider:
Ask, and it shall be given to you, seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened. Matthew 7:7-8.
But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. John 16:7.
And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you. John 14:16-17.
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, for your provision of life eternally with you when my time here is done and that when I enter into your eternal presence I will know you as fully as you intend. Thank you, too, for the eternal life of knowing you and Jesus as deeply as possible for as long as you keep me on this side of eternity. I confess that too often I do not seek to know you and Jesus as fully as possible. I do that because I choose to not pursue the knowledge you have for me. Please forgive that foolish approach to living the life you have given me to live. And please help me in following every step of your lead into the deepest possible relationship based on knowing you. Thank you I can and do bring these prayers before you in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Think on this: Have you accepted God’s free and gracious provision of life eternally with Him where you will know Him as fully as He intends? If no, why? What is standing in the way? If you have the assurance of salvation and redemption, how are you doing with pursuing the eternal life of knowing God the Father and Jesus the Son on this side of eternity? If you sense some changes may be appropriate in your pursuit of knowing God, how are those changes going to happen? Is that what you want? Why or why not?
Waiting for the Train 