Know God?
Do you know God? A lot of people think they do, but might not. Yet God want you to know him. The first place to start is Jesus, because you will never know God — really know him — apart from Jesus Christ. Jesus said , ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’ (John 14:6).
Jesus Christ shows us how to know God.
When you know God through Jesus Christ, you will enjoy eternal life in heaven (John 17:3). Knowing the infinitely wonderful God is a life-long process, but getting started is simple. It’s as easy as ABC–Admit, Believe, Commit. But it requires you to give up your life–your rights to do as you please. Jesus said that everyone who wants to become his disciple must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow him (Luke 9:23). Here’s how you begin to do that.
First, you must admit you are a sinner and repent of your sins.
This is important to do because sin blinds us. It keeps us from seeing God clearly. What is sin? Sin is doing anything that God forbids us to do (such as stealing) or not doing anything that God wants us to do (such as loving our neighbor). By this definition, everybody has sinned. In fact, that’s what the Bible says: ‘All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ (Romans 3:23). The problem for us is that sin has tragic consequences: eternal death (Romans 6:23). We can’t get to heaven by being good. This is very important to understand! Good works are not enough! The tiniest sin–such as a little white lie–will send us straight to hell. But when we repent of our sins by turning away from them and following God’s way, we experience God at work in our lives and begin to know him more completely (John 8:31-32).
Second, you must believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins and rose from the dead to prepare a place in heaven for you.
God loves you. He wants you to know him. And he proved his love when Christ died in your place on the cross (Romans 5:8). That Jesus died and rose from the dead is an historical reality and proven in many ways. Yet you must embrace that reality for yourself. If you do, you have taken a big step toward God and can begin to claim his promise ‘that if you … believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, you will be saved’ (Romans 10:9). But there’s one more step …
Third, you must commit your life to follow him.
That’s the first part of the verse you just read in the last sentence. The full verse reads: ‘that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, you will be saved’ (Romans 10:9). True faith in Christ produces a desire to obey Jesus as Lord. In other words, if we truly believe in Jesus, we will want to do everything he says, just as a faithful servant would do everything his master asked him to do. As Jesus clarified, ‘Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him’ (John 14:21). As we trust in him, then we will know God.
If you agree with the ABC’s and want to know God in a way you never have, pray and tell God about your desire. He already knows, but he wants you to express it to him. You may want to say something like this: ‘God, I want to know you. I understand that Jesus is the only way to know you. But I’m a sinner. I want to turn away from my sin and do what pleases you. I believe in Jesus–that he died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead to offer me eternal life. I want to obey him. Please save me from my sins and help me to follow you so that I can know you more completely. Amen.’
Congratulations! If you just told God something like that and really meant it, you have ‘crossed over from death to life’. You are now a child of God and can know for certain that you are going to heaven when you die! (See John 1:12 and 1 John 5:13).
It’s important for you to tell other Christians about what you’ve just done, so let us know! Maybe you haven’t made a commitment to follow Christ but have more questions. Feel free to contact us, too. Email us at office@pointchurch.net and let us know how we can help.
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