Want to know God?

Pintlala Baptist Church

There is a backstory to our desire to know God. The desire to know Him is God’s gift to us. The very capacity to respond to God indicates that a personal relationship is grounded in God’s grace. The Creator is more than ready with an offer of lasting, enduring friendship. Knowing God at the deepest personal level is essential for an effective life. Part of the backstory usually involves emotional pain, a gnawing sense of emptiness or an unshakable discontent and can be God’s way of preparing us for amazing transformation.

Have you noticed that anything that satisfies our physical senses is only temporary and rarely lives up to its hype? God created us with physical desires, but the satisfaction of those desires fades quickly. Did God design us so that any physical experience would never bring lasting happiness? Think about it. The desire for food, sex, power, wealth, fame or intellectual superiority was never intended to bring us permanent happiness.

Deep within us, at the central core of our lives, is the God-given desire to know Him. Our quest for lasting fulfillment begins here, with the desire itself. However, God did not stop with creating this persistent desire, He also provides the means: He sent His uniquely born Son whose death on a cross made possible reconciliation with God and an incredible friendship that addresses our deepest longing. A personal friendship with God through Jesus Christ must simply be received. It cannot be achieved.

We cannot get our minds around such outrageous extravagance: grace in time of need, help in time of trouble, life in all its fullness, forgiveness of sin, unconditional love, peace, purpose and the prospect of a glorious life beyond death. Who can imagine the scope of such a gift? Surely the offer of this kind of friendship leaves us speechless and amazed. The best we can do is receive the gift of Christ and His saving friendship with humility knowing our lack of merit, with honesty knowing our inability to earn such standing before God and with trust knowing God’s track record of dependability.

In moments of honest reflection we must agree with St. Augustine’s assertion, “Because God has made us for Himself, our hearts are restless until they rest in Him.”