How well do you know your best friend? How well to you know your spouse, children, or parents? How well do you think they know you? Do you want to know them well? Do you want them to know you well?
We know some people in our lives very well…or, at least we think we do. There are limitations to how well we can know someone else. Sometimes, we think we know someone well and we are surprised when we find out they have done something horrible. For the most part, these are rare occasions.
So, how well do you know God? Do you think you know Him well? We are told by the apostle John that we come to know God well when we obey His commands. Of course, that means the first thing we must do is hear and understand His commands. Once we understand them, we must decide to obey them. It is our choice.
Why is obeying His commands important to getting to know Him? As we obey His commands, we experience Him. As we do what He instructs us to do, we discover that He really does have our best interest at heart. Our experience reveals who God is to us.
Unfortunately, the opposite is also true. Meaning…if we say we know Him but don’t follow His commands, we are liar’s. I’m sure none of us want to be considered a liar. That puts us in a bit of quandary, doesn’t it? We must admit we don’t know God, or we must obey His commands.
Why would John say we are liar’s? Let’s think through it logically. First, when we state we know God in this context, we are not saying we know about God. We are stating we are intimate with God. That means we know His commands and we are willing to obey them. If we don’t obey them, we lied when we said we know Him.
We often find in Scripture some hard teachings, and this is one of them. We must remember that God is righteous. He is never wrong. He never allows evil or disobedience to come into His presence. Thankfully, we have an awesome Savior who makes us clean.
I pray we all follow the commands of God. I pray we decide to obey Jesus’ commands. I pray each of us will commit to knowing God and obeying Him each day. Know God intimately. Obey His commands. Know the truth. State the truth.
1 John 2:3-4 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.
Marty Pressey 