How Can You Know God?
Quotes:
"The unexamined life is not worth living."--Socrates
"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened."--Winston Churchhill
"The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either - but right through every human heart - and through all human hearts."--Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Take some time to think...
Too often in our fast paced world we worry about the urgent things in our life. We may have jobs that demand the best hours of our day, spouses, children and friends that need our attention and care and what is left are those deep thoughts that we have while brushing our teeth or showering!
We'd like to invite you to take some time right now to think about some of those deep issues in your life that you normally don't have time to. These are thoughts about your dreams and loves in life and life's purpose. What is life all about anyway? Sure it's having enough food to eat and a place to lie down at night, but it also has more meaning--deeper meaning than that.
You were put here for a purpose. What is it?
From looking at ocean waves roll into the seashore; from a child's innocent questions to a prisoner's pleas; from Greenland to Australia and throughout history's wars, deaths and persecutions, there is a higher power at work. You do have a purpose. Perhaps now is the time to think through those issues that you told yourself you would look at someday.
What are your questions about your life's purpose?
Where did we come from or where we are going? What about war and death? Why does it occur? Why do other people envy what you have or tell you what you need?
Our society does not want to ask these questions. We want to stick our head in the sand and scream "Leave me alone!! I've got so many problems and worries that I can't function! Everybody else out there--watch out for yourself--don't bother me and I won't bother you!"
It doesn't have to be that way.
You may know by now that this is all leading somewhere. The answers to questions about life have been asked before. We have provided this web site so that you can take a look and tell us what you think. But you must be prepared to interact with this material; you must interact with it and think about it. It's easy to shrug and say "Oh, they're Christians." But the questions won't go away by doing that.
Please examine the following, for you must reject or accept the claims of Christ at some point in your life.
What you believe about Christ and this information is indeed the most important decision you'll ever make!
He can change your life now and eternally as well!
What follows is very challenging and will, no doubt, raise a lot of questions. Because of God's love for us, He sent his Son. The basis for purpose and hope in life is found in a true understanding of the world around you and your place in eternity. Engage yourself with this material--really think about it!
Afterward, please drop us an email and tell us what you think! Contact Us
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What is Christianity?
Some say it is a philosophy, others that it is an ethical stance, while still others claim it is really an experience. None of these really gets at the heart of the matter, however. Each of those things is something a Christian has, but not one of them serves as a definition of what a Christian is. Christianity has at its core a relationship between a person and God. A person who becomes a Christian moves from knowing about God distantly to knowing Him directly and intimately. "Now this is eternal life; that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." —John 17:3. Christianity is knowing God.
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Why do I need to know God?
Our desire for personal knowledge of God is strong, but we usually fail to recognize the desire for what it is. When we first fall in love, when we first marry, when we finally break into our chosen field, when we at last get that weekend house—these breakthroughs arouse in us an anticipation of something, which, as it turns out, never occurs. We eventually discover that our desire for that precious something is a longing that no lover or career or achievement, even the best possible ones, can ever satisfy. The satisfaction fades away even as we close our fingers around our goal. Nothing ever delivers the joy it seemed to promise. Many of us avoid the yawning emptiness through busyness or denial, but, at best, that is only a postponement.
There are several ways people respond to this:
1) To blame the things themselves - to find fault with everyone and everything around them. Some people believe that a better spouse, a better career, a better boss or salary would finally yield the elusive joy. Many of the world's most successful people are like this: bored, discontented, running from new thing to new thing, often changing counselors, mates, partners, settings.
2) To blame themselves - to try harder to live up to self-imposed standards. Many people feel they have made poor choices or failed to measure up to challenges and to achieve the things that would give them joy and satisfaction. Such people are wracked with self-doubts and tend to burn themselves out. They think, "If only I could reach my goals, then this emptiness would be gone." But it is not so.
3) To blame the universe itself - to give up seeking fulfillment at all. These are the people who say, "Yes, when young you are idealistic, but at my age I have stopped howling after the moon." They become cynical and decide to repress that part of themselves that once wanted fulfillment and joy. But they become hard, and they can feel themselves losing their humanity, compassion and joy.
4) To blame and recognize their separation from God - to establish a personal relationship with Him.
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How can I know God?
In order to form a personal relationship with God, we must know three things:
1) Who We Are
We are God's creation. God created us and built us for a relationship with Him. We belong to Him and owe Him gratitude for every breath, every moment, every thing. Since humans were built to live for Him (to worship), we will always try to worship something. If not God, we will choose some other object of ultimate devotion to give life meaning.
We are rebels. We have all chosen (and reaffirm daily) to reject God and to make our own joy and happiness our highest priority. We do not want to worship God and surrender our self-centeredness, yet we are built to worship; so we cling to idols, centering our lives on things which promise to give us meaning: success, relationships, influence, love, comfort, etc.
We are in spiritual slavery. To live for anything else but God leads to breakdown and decay. When a fish leaves the water, that which he was built for, he is not free, but dead. Worshipping other things besides God leads to a loss of meaning. If we achieve these things, they cannot deliver satisfaction, because they were never meant to replace God. Worshipping other things besides God also leads to self-image problems. We end up defining ourselves in terms of how well we achieve these things. We must have them or all is lost, so they drive us to work too hard or fill us with terror if they are jeopardized.
2) Who God Is
God is love and justice in perfect balance. His active concern is for our joy and well-being. Most people love those who love them, yet God loves and seeks the good even of people who are His enemies. But because God is good and loving, He cannot tolerate evil. The opposite of love is not anger but indifference. To imagine God's situation, picture a judge who is also a father, who sits at the trial of his very guilty son. A judge knows that he cannot let his son go, for without justice no society can survive. How much less can a loving God merely ignore or suspend justice for us who are loved, yet guilty of rebellion against His loving authority?
Jesus Christ is God. Jesus is God Himself come to earth. He lived a perfect life, loving God with all His heart, fulfilling all human obligations to God. He lived the life you owed—a perfect record. Then, instead of receiving the reward He had earned (eternal life), Jesus surrendered His life in the place of rebels like you, taking on Himself the punishment and death rebels owe.
When we believe in Him:
Our sins are paid for by His death, and
His perfect life record is transferred to our account.
So God accepts and regards us as if we had done all Christ has done.
3) What You Must Do
You must repent. You must admit that you have been living as your own master, worshipping the wrong things, violating God's loving laws. "Repentance" means you ask forgiveness and turn from your rebellion with a willingness to live for and center your life on God.
You must believe. Believing is transferring your trust from your own efforts to the efforts of Christ. You had faith in other things to make you acceptable, but now you consciously begin relying on what Jesus did for your acceptance with God. All you need is nothing. If you think, "God owes me something for all my efforts," you are still on the outside.
Pray something like this:
"Dear God,
I see that I am more flawed and sinful than I ever knew, but that I am even more loved and accepted than I ever dared hope. I turn from my old life of living for myself. I have done nothing in my life to earn Your approval, but I now rest in what Jesus did and ask to be accepted into God's family because of what He did for me. Please receive me as your child, and change me so that I want to live for you.”
When you make this transaction, two things happen at once:
- your accounts are cleared, your sins are wiped out permanently, you are adopted legally into God's family,
- and
the Holy Spirit enters your heart and begins to change you into the character of Jesus.
You must follow through.
Tell a Christian friend about your commitment.Find a church that will train you in the ways God has given to Christians to develop their relationship with Him: prayer, worship, Bible study and fellowship with other Christians. You can contact our church office at 972-394-1122 or contact us through this website. We will be glad to connect you with someone who can help you begin to grow as a Christian.
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Why should I seek to know God?
On the one hand, you may feel very much that you "need" God. Even though you may recognize that you have needs only God can meet, you must not try to use Him to achieve your own ends. It is not possible to bargain with God. ("I'll do this if You will do that.") That is not Christianity at all, but a form of magic that treats God like a “good luck charm” which you use to get things to go your way. Are you getting into Christianity to serve God or to get God to serve you? Those are two opposite motives, and they result in two different religions. You must come to God because 1) you owe it to Him to give Him your life (because He is your Creator), and 2) you are deeply grateful to Him for sacrificing His Son for you (because He is your Savior).
On the other hand, you may feel no need at all or interest in knowing God. This does not mean you should stay uncommitted. If you were created by God, then you owe Him your life, whether you feel like it or not. You are obligated to seek Him and ask Him to open your eyes. If you say, "I have no faith," that is no excuse either. You need only doubt your doubts. No one can doubt everything at once—you must believe in something to doubt something else. For example, do you believe you are competent to run your own life? Where is the evidence for that? Why doubt everything but your doubts about God and your faith in yourself? Is that fair? You owe it to God to seek Him. Do so.
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What if I am not ready to proceed?
Make a list of issues that you perceive to be barriers to crossing the line into faith. Here is a possible list:
Content issues: Do you understand the basics of the Christian message—sin, Jesus as God, sacrifice, faith?
Coherence issues: Are there intellectual problems you have with Christianity—objections to the Christian faith which you cannot resolve in your mind?
Cost issues: Do you perceive a move into full Christian faith will cost you something dear? What fears do you have about commitment?
Now talk to some Christian friend until they are resolved, or contact our church at 972-394-1122 or through our website. We will be happy to connect you with someone you could talk to about these matters.
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Consider reading:
—Adapted from Timothy Keller, 1991
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