Know God fully ...

Friday, Oct 29, 2010. When we talk to people around us about God, we will often find particular opinions about what you can know about him. As modern people “we” think that you cannot know much about God. We do not know whether God really exists. We believe that religion will cease and die. Modern people believe that faith belongs to a different time, a time long gone. Only parts of this world, where people are lacking behind modern philosophy and science, seem to be drawn to religion.

Get to know the glorious God …

Paul writes in the letter to the Ephesians, Chapter 1:

17 I ask God, the glorious God, the Father of Jesus Christ our Master, to give you spiritual wisdom and revelation so that you will know him fully.

The goal is to know God fully. It is not to have some faint ideas about God. It is not to have some unclear image or some vague faith. It is full knowledge, which comes through and with faith. I know some person, when I live with this person, when I see the person act and talk, when I interact with it. Full knowledge of another being comes only by interaction and only over time, step by step.

Paul names another source here, which leads to knowledge: revelation. God can show himself to us. It will still be a process of “getting to know each other”. But it will be a real interaction, when he acts and shows what he thinks and wants, and when we talk to him, follow, ask, contradict and learn …!

Spiritual Wisdom …

Paul mentions “spiritual wisdom” in his words. Do we have a clear idea of what that is? When we talk about wisdom we often think about some old guy with white hair, perhaps we are reminded of the Dalai Lama, who seems to be a prominent figure of wisdom. But here Paul talks about Christian wisdom, which comes from the Holy Spirit, which is given by the Lord to people, who believe in Jesus.

I have found that in fact God gives this wisdom to simple Christians. They often have deep insight into what is important and what is not. They have deep insight into what God is looking for. They know the art of forgiveness. Simple Christians just know all this, without a long theologial training or far reaching philosophies. They know that truth and love are key points of life. They know that career is often an illusion. They know that acceptance will be a gift, that cordial relationships need time and effort and decisions to let other things go … Spiritual wisdom is there among us, given by the Lord to his people. ... more texts