Torch, Winter 1985

12 "'~;>;;•.. <. '.\ 5 l{howing , God Today believers in many of our churches are consistently exhorted to study and memorize the Bible. They are admonished to witness more, pray more , and increase their giving. The saints are encouraged to discover their gifts and put them to use by teaching a class or discipling someone. Then the performance of these forms of service is supposed to be evidence of a spiritual life . While I believe these activities are good, a Christian may perform them all and still fall short of knowing God intimately. God has always desired that His children know Him in a personal way . I Chronicles 28:9 states , "And thou, Solomon my son, know the God of thy father, and serve Him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind." Jeremiah 9:24 reinforced this concept with "But let him who boasts , boast of this , that he understands and knows me ." In Philippians 3: I0 Paul writes, "That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. " I can remember the first joy of trusting Christ as my personal Savior. My new life was exciting. For several months I shared my faith with others and eagerly learned all I could from my pastor and several radio and tape ministries. Then the newness wore off and so did the excitement. I sensed an incompleteness with my heavenly father. I remember listening to questions like , "Do you love the Lord Jesus more today than you ever have before?" In my heart I knew that I should love my Savior in an increasing way, but to answer "yes" to those inquiries would have made me a liar. Then I was motivated by the exhortations of preachers who would say , "You must develop a stronger relationship with the Lord." I wanted this. So I read the Bible more and prayed more. The emptiness and lack of fulfillment did leave me for a while as I did more for God . But, they returned as my zealousness slowed down . Dr. J. Don Jennings delivered a message at a camp meeting that I will never forget. His premise was that to obey God , one must love God. And to love God, one must know God . I believe this is a key reason for personal Bible study, quiet time, or personal devotions, as some call it. If we really want our lives to be everything they ought to be for God, we must get to know Him intimately . This will stimulate an increase in our love for Him. Moreover, the outgrowth of this increased intimacy will be good works , including such things as witnessing, discipling, and giving . In my sixth year of youth work I was using the Pro– Teen program developed by Frank Hamrick, the founder of Positive Action for Christ. The new booklets for that year of youth Bible studies included the title "Beyond Your God." It was a unit designed to turn knowledge about God into knowledge of God, to help believers know their God by developing personal fellowship with Him. That year my life was changed as I taught this concept to my young people. Together we discovered that one can grow up in a church and still not know God. A person can have a string of perfect attendance pins from coat lapel to trouser cuff, play the piano or sing in choir, teach Sunday school, and know as much about God as the pastor, John Calvin, or Martin Luther, and still not know God.