J.I. Packer on page 39 of Knowing God:
Knowing God is a matter of personal dealing, as is all direct acquaintance with personal beings. Knowing God is more than knowing about him; it is a matter of dealing with him as he opens up to you, and being dealt with by him as he takes knowledge of you. Knowing about him is a necessary precondition of trusting in him ("how could they have faith in one they had never heard of?" [Rom 10:14 NEB]), but the width of our knowledge about him is no gauge of the depth of our knowledge of him.
...If the decisive factor was notional correctness, then obviously the most learned biblical scholars would know God better than anyone else. But it is not; you can have all the right notions in your head without ever tasting in your heart the realities to which they refer; and a simple Bible reader and sermon hearer who is full of the Holy Spirit will develop a far deeper acquaintance with his God and Savior than a more learned scholar who is content with being theologically correct. The reason is that the former will deal with God regarding the practical application of truth to his life, whereas the latter will not.
May God give us much grace to be men and women who "deal with God regarding the practical application of truth" to our lives and not simply have all "the right notions" in our heads without it taking control of our hearts. What joy and peace there is in knowing God in this way!
Father, please send your Spirit to open our hearts up to your word in our lives each day.
"Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous thing out of your law." - Psalm 119:18 ESV
photo: July 15, 2007; Tuscany, Italy
No comments:
Post a Comment