Want to know God?

First Baptist Church, Fairhope

When I was a little boy, my mother would tell me to play outside. Bouncing a ball inside the house was a hazardous activity. Things could get broken very easily. My ball and I were sent outside where the atmosphere was much better for safer play.

While safer play may be outside, knowing God is something that comes from inside. Outside information can give us facts about the God of creation and revelation, but a personal relationship is a matter of knowing God from the heart. The hardest words in the Bible were given to those who did not question God as Creator but still were distant from Him. “I never knew you. Depart from me” (Matt. 7:23, HCSB).

Paul was the greatest missionary who ever lived, but his knowledge of God before he became a Christian was from the outside in. He took it upon himself to correct Christians and force them to deny the living Christ.

However, the transformation that happened to him on the Damascus Road changed him from the inside out. He not only experienced the living Jesus that he had denied, but he made the inward commitment to follow Jesus as Lord and Master. As Ananias laid hands on the newly converted Paul, Paul received the Holy Spirit and his eyes were opened (Acts 10:17). God was no longer a rigid lawgiver but a personal Savior Who gave His life for the one who was chief of sinners. Saul the Pharisee became Paul the Christian.

In Fairhope, my wife and I often go to Mobile Bay and watch the sunset. It is so inspiring to see the beauty of God’s creation. Our inward commitment to Christ is enhanced as our Lord opens our eyes to so much of His glory. An inward presence of God’s Spirit widens the lens of our hearts as sightseeing becomes a worship experience.

Knowing God is an inside out process. The beginning involves an inner commitment to Christ as Savior and continues with baptism and church membership. We continue to study God’s Word and let God’s Spirit conform us to the image of Christ.

Knowing God thus becomes a heaven-on-earth adventure that never ends.