What does it mean to know God?

"3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. 6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked" (1 John 2:3-6 NKJV).

These three short verses have just blown my mind!

I am working on reading God's word more often, simply because it's one way that I know how to be close to Him. So here I am, checking my Life Journal that my church staff purchased that we might go through the Bible in a year together. This afternoon I'm in 1 John.

I'm going through, reading in my head, trying to latch onto these words that I know bring life and I remember the power of the Word read aloud. (Brian Hardin, author and founder of Daily Audio Bible, said this in a blog post: "If we give ear to the words of life, in the listening we will hear the voice of our heavenly Father as he speaks directly to our hearts.")

Awesome. So as I read the Word aloud in the second chapter, these verses come alive. We can know Him who created the universe and everything in it? The love of God can be perfected in us? What does it mean though to be in Him? to abide in Him? to walk just as He walked?

In reading my study Bible's notes I was filled all the more with the depth of meaning behind the written, living Word.

We know Him: "The NT speaks of knowing God in two senses. One who has trusted Christ knows Him (see John 17:3), that is to say, has met Him. One who has previously met the Lord can also come to know Him intimately (see Phil. 3:10). In this verse John is also talking about knowing the Lord intimately."

Knowing the Lord intimately.

It's an amazing concept once you believe it to be possible! The Word says the mystery of His will has been revealed to us and that we are not slaves that we wouldn't know what the Master is doing, but we are His children. So yeah, we can intimately know God and there is something locked within keeping His commandments that allows more room for intimacy.

perfected: "This verb expresses the idea of maturity and completeness: The love of God is perfected may mean one of two things: (1) The believers love for God grows as he or she keeps God's Word, or (2) as the believer pursues fellowship and obedience, God's love for him or her is more fully completed. The second is indicated here. The believer begins to know by experience that he or she is in Him."

Wow. How powerful is that? That even simply pursuing fellowship and obedience, God's love for us could be more full, more completed, more realized even. No wonder why maturity in the faith is a thing that we strive after, in desiring to mature to obey God's will is the process of the love of God being perfected in us!

abides in Him: "Abiding is habitual obedience. It has the idea of settling down in Christ or resting in Him. It is evidenced by a life modeled after Christ."

Do you know what habitual obedience has come to mean to me?

I once thought it meant doing and being everything that Jesus ever said to do and be all at the same time. Yeah, overwhelming and impossible on my own.

But now coming into maturity as a believer and having His Holy Spirit guide me, habitual obedience has come to mean, "Yes Lord, here am I, send me" (Isaiah 6:8). So now when I feel that prompting to talk to that woman at the airport about the missions trip I was just returning from or to pray for someone I haven't seen in months or to put down everything I'm doing, blast my worship music in my car and just worship my heart out.

Habitual obedience means putting fears and doubts and questions aside and just going for whatever I think MIGHT even be God telling me to do (now I know more securely God's voice, but it wasn't so in the beginning, it was a leap of faith).

So, having said all that, combed through those verses. Let's read them again and see what jewels they are that shine straight out of the living, inhaling and exhaling Word of God.

"3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. 6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked" (1 John 2:3-6 NKJV).

Amen.