To Know Him

One of the great joys of my life is getting to know the people I really care about. When I meet individuals who become my friends, I want to learn everything I can about them. I want to know what experiences they had growing up. I want to know what their family life was like. I want to know what trials or difficulties they may have faced in life. I want to know what joys overtook them as they journeyed along the way.

There is virtually no end to my curiousity about the people I consider my friends. But, it's really not curiousity simply because I am nosy guy. Rather, I want to know about the ones I care about because who they are today is a reflection of every experience they have had throughout the course of their lives. The more I know about them, the better able I will be to relate to the real people that they are.

The Apostle Paul seems to have had a similar drive insofar as his relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ was concerned. In Philippians 3:7-11, Paul writes these words:

⁷ But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. ¹⁰ I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

These are truly powerful words: "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings..." Paul was driven to know the Lord Jesus Christ in as intimate a way possible. He wanted to fill his mind and heart with the knowledge of Jesus. What did Jesus think? What did Jesus teach? What did Jesus require of those who followed Him? Paul wanted to know all these things, and more.

The pattern of devotion that the Apostle Paul has set calls out to us today. We need to approach our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ in a way that mirrors the passion that Paul expresses.

One thing we can do to get to know our Savior: spend time each day reading the Bible, the Word of God. By reading the Bible, we have the opportunity to learn about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We can read and learn about His faithfulness, His patience, His commands, His grace, His mercy, and His peace.

In Psalm 16:8-11, King David writes these words:

⁸ I have set the LORD always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.

⁹ Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,

¹⁰ because you will not abandon me to the grave,
nor will you let your Holy One see decay.

¹¹ You have made known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

God willingly waits to answer the questions we have. He wants us to know Him. He gave us His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that we might be able to know Him. He gave us the Holy Spirit to dwell within us in order to lead us and guide us into the full knowledge of who He is. He desires to set us on the most profitable pathway of life. Then, He will keep us on that pathway.

I urge you to begin this day to seek to know the Lord Jesus Christ. Read the Bible. Find out about your Savior, so you can follow Him more closely.

_{Copyright © 2010 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}