But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.
1 Corinthians 8: 3 NKJV
I was thinking this week about the story of the man Job. The servant of the Lord who lost everything and yet in the end gained back more than he had owned before. Yeah, that guy. What is interesting about the story of Job is that he did everything right, yet his trials increased. So much was Job loved by God that he is said to have been "blameless and upright" {Job 1:1}. This, however, did not save Job from the one who wished him harm. That being Satan the accuser. So it was that Satan found the occasion to come before the Lord with his own view of Jobs success {Job 1:10}. God, however, knew everything there is to know about Job. He knew his likes and dislikes. He knew his passions and what he was not fond of. From the reading of the scriptures in Job, it seems that Satan did not have these intimate details of Job. For had he known, he may have devised a better plan to shake Jobs devotion to the Lord. Why is this important? Because that same knowledge which the Lord had of Job, He has of us as well. God knows me. He knows what makes me tick. I might act out in different ways to hide how I am truly feeling, but it is God who ultimately knows my heart {1 Samuel 16:7}. It is a very personal relationship that we share when we come to know the Lord. A good friend of mine related to me years ago that one of the reasons he chose to attend church was that he was searching for a relationship with Jesus. I'm glad to say that he's found what he was searching for. Yet, more often than not, we are never told that our goal should be to approach God on a personal level. I know that I wasn't. This is part of the mistaken belief that we ourselves are separated from God. That God sits in heaven while we sinners saved by only by His grace populate His creation. On simple grounds, this belief is torn to shreds by the very fact that Christ Jesus died to redeem us from our sins. How can we be sinners if Jesus already erased them? But, that was only the beginning. The apostle Paul tells us that it is Jesus Himself who lives in us today {Galatians 2:20}. How much more personal of a relationship can we have with Jesus than this?
"And he arose and came to his father. but when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. "And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.' "But the father said to his servants, 'bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 'And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 'for this son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'
Luke 15: 20 - 24 NKJV
I've wondered more than a few times what God would say to Satan were the accuser to approach Him asking about me. What would the Lord say if Satan asked Him, "do you know this man Scott?" I know exactly what He would tell him. Do I know Scott? Of course I know him...he's Mine! He is My very child {1 John 3:2}. I created him in My own image {Genesis 1:27}. So it is that I am so closely, intimately related to the Lord. This is the intimate relationship one shares with God when we come to the realization that all the barriers we have been led to believe separate us from Him have been destroyed by Him. It is not God who tells us that we can never have a relationship with Him. In fact, the prayer of Jesus in the garden tells us that our personal relationship with Him was His desire {John 17:21}. To be one with both Jesus and the Father is the relationship we have. Jesus never mentioned that we could be one with the Father...if. Indeed, if we have Christ, we have the Father as well. So it is that I am well known and loved by the Lord God. Despite what human eyes may see on the outside, it is Christ Himself who looks back upon them.
~Scott~
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