Dawson Memorial Baptist Church, Birmingham
The journey of knowing God can be both simple and complex.
Knowing God can be complex because we seek to know Him in the context of doubts, life struggles and the contradiction of the distorted lives and witness of those who might claim to know God. Coming to faith can be like climbing a mountain or taking a challenging hike through the wilderness. We wonder in the midst of our pain if we will ever get to our destination. All along the journey there are questions that will probably never be answered to our satisfaction.
Christians begin with the premise that one knows God through knowing Jesus Christ, His Son. Knowing God through Jesus is simple because He said, “I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). He also gave witness to the great truth, “He who knows me knows the Father” (John 14:7). Jesus made our journey possible by becoming God’s expression of love for us and giving us the opportunity of accepting Him by faith.
How does one begin the journey of knowing God?
Read great passages from the Bible, especially the New Testament. Luke wrote his Gospel so we might have an accurate account of Jesus’ life that can lead us to knowing God.
Get to know people of faith, people who demonstrate how God is working with grace in their lives. Take some time to visit with a pastor in your community. In addition, you may know a neighbor, fellow employee or friend who demonstrates the truth of Christ in his or her life. Give him or her an opportunity to share his or her life of faith with you.
Most importantly, begin your journey by taking a step of faith. Knowing God does not mean that you must know everything about Him from the beginning. You can begin by trusting Jesus and what you know of God through what Jesus revealed about Him. This is what it means to trust Jesus by faith.
Then you can begin a journey of knowing God more fully and realize what Jesus meant when He said, “I have come that they might have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).
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