Want to know God?

Crooked Oak Baptist Church, Tuscumbia

Hopefully by taking the time to read this column, you are interested in knowing God. And quite likely you already know a little about God. The question is this: “Is it possible to know about God without really knowing God?”

To find the answer let’s ask two godly men. 

The first, a layman named Leonard Hampton, was a forester, college professor and an avid witness for Jesus Christ. He is, right now, in the very presence of the living God. If we could ask Leonard right now, “Can someone know about God without really knowing God?” Leonard would undoubtedly answer, “Yes. Sadly many people will miss heaven by the space of 18 inches — the distance from the head to the heart. Many people believe in the historical Jesus. Some even believe that He is able to give them eternal life. The problem is that they have never truly accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. They have never established a relationship with Him.”

Now let’s ask the same question of seminary president Gray Allison, an amazing man in his 80s that still has the same passion and clarity he had when I met him almost 40 years ago. Gray would agree with Leonard that, yes it is possible to know about God without really knowing Him. He would take Leonard’s statement one step further: “Nowhere in the Bible does it tell us that we should accept Jesus Christ as our Savior. The Bible says that we must accept Him as Lord.”

Confused? You needn’t be. Leonard and Gray aren’t giving two different answers to your question. Combining their messages these two men would jointly answer, “Want to know God?” like this: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom. 10:9–10, 13).