Knowing God…by name? By nature? By what? “Knowing” anyone means that we call each other by name. That we have stories to share. Knowing OF someone is not KNOWING them. Knowing their nature, their standards, their tendencies. That’s KNOWING them. We know those we spend (or have spent) large amounts of time around.
In 1 John 2, John talks about the signs that humans KNOW God. It’s not that we know OF Him. John writes some direct words…
And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. 4 If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. 5 But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. 6 Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.
(1 John 2:3-6).
John tells us that KNOWING God means we obey His commands. When we think of commands, we might think “ten commandments”. If so, the first is “you should have NO other gods before me”. God has proven Himself as a trustable and valid source of how to conduct a rewarding life (both physically & spiritually). God’s commands are clear, concise and right there where we can read them. Yet the natural nature of humans is prone to doing their own thing. The Apostle Paul states “there are ways that seem right to people, but actually lead to problems”. We can’t realize past this moment, but God is already in our future. So He knows what we should do and all His commands are designed to keep us on the proper path. They aren’t a list of “how to control lives to make them dull and boring”. They are a list of how to treat others and ourselves the right way. It has been said that “impression is the most sincere form of flattery”. The greatest thing we can do for God is to do an “impression of Jesus”. That’s what the 6th verse above states…”live your life as Jesus did”. We won’t BE Jesus, but people should be able to notice and “mistake” us for Him regularly.
So we can SHOW we KNOW God by doing what He expects of us. In doing so, you’ll notice that life is done best that way. Plus you show that you KNOW God.
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