1 John 2:3-6
Verse 3 We know that we have come to know Him if we keep His commands.
Yesterday we said that the thing that we really should be spending our times of waiting doing is truly getting to know God. But how do we go about knowing Him?
It goes without saying that part of getting to know Him is through reading His Word and praying, but to truly know Him takes more in depth time with Him. Our key verse today says that we show that we know Him if we keep His commands but it takes more than living out His commands to know Him. In fact we can try to live all His commands without truly knowing Him. So what could this verse be saying?
The difference between following the rules of God’s commands and obeying God’s commands sits in the heart. We can obey all we want to but if it is missing the element of love, then it is not done because of knowing Him. Obedience out of love comes from relationship. When we come to the point of knowing God we will find obeying easier because it will be coming from a deeper love of Him.
This is one of those situations where the deeper the love grows, the more obedience flows from that love. But what must we do to grow this love? What do we do when we are learning to love others? We start by trying to learn as much as we can about them. We ask questions that will lead to deeper understandings of how they think so we have a better knowledge of how they will react and what they expect of a friend. Indeed, the most important thing we need to remember about trying to go deeper in a relationship with others, is that we are not our main focus. We can’t learn about the other person if we are more focused on them getting to know us. The intention has to be on them and what makes them tick.
To get to know what makes God who He is, requires our reading the Bible with the mindset of trying to learn as much about Him as we can from each passage. When we pray it can’t be so much about our asking Him for what we want, but our prayers should be begging Him to reveal Himself to us on a deeper level and then we need to sit quietly in His presence, focusing solely on Him and what He may want us to know about Him. When we grow in our relationship with Him we won’t be able to help but become more obedient to His way of thinking. And when we are more in line with His thinking we will find that the in-between times of life will not seem so daunting because we will know we are not walking through them alone.
Making It Personal
How intentional have you been about getting to know Him? How do you need to change your focus to be better at knowing Him? How much do you want to know Him?
Making It Personal Kids
What does it mean to know God? Why should you obey God? What will help you obey Him?
Closing Prayer
Father, we love You and want to know You. May we seek You more and walk with You in all the times of our lives. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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