Only by accepting Jesus Christ as our Saviour will we ever truly ‘know’ God
Do you know Theresa May? How would you respond to a question like that? Maybe you would want to tell me everything that you know about the Prime Minister.
You know that she lives in 10 Downing Street, is married to Philip, has an interest in fashion, used to be Home Secretary, is the daughter of a vicar and awkwardly lost her voice in the middle of an important speech at last year’s Conservative Party conference.
It’s possible that you might even want to tell me that you saw her during her recent visit to Belfast, and it’s even possible that you had an opportunity to engage her in conversation when she was here.
Now, all of these things are interesting and, I think, true, but just because you know all of these details concerning the life of the Prime Minister doesn’t mean that you know her.
You have no idea what she eats for breakfast.
You don’t know whether she prefers Scrabble or Monopoly, enjoys surfing or prefers golf.
You may have made a judgment on whether she is friendly and approachable, but you’ve really no idea as to what she’d be like as your next-door neighbour.
You see, often we declare that we know somebody when really all that we mean is that we know some things about them.
The same is true of God. Many people would declare that they know God when, really, what they actually mean is that they know about God. They believe that he exists; they attend a place of worship where much is said about him; they find it appropriate to pray to him, especially in times of crisis, and lament about how many people in modern society seem to have no time for God.
However, there is a difference between knowing all of these things and actually knowing God in a personal way.
The good news is that if we turn from our sin and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour, we are then wonderfully adopted into the family of God.
From that moment onwards, God is no longer a distant and remote figure but, as his children, we are able to address him as ‘Abba, Father’.
So let me ask you, do you know God personally?
Are you one of his children? Can you call him ‘Father’?
“And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba! Father!” (Galatians 4:6).