Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Called to know God: Is 43:10

" 'You are My witnesses,' declares the LORD, 'and My servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe Me and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, and there will be none after Me.' " (Isaiah 43:10)
When I recently read this verse, it struck me that God had chosen me that I might know Him. What a privilege to be chosen to know God! As much as I desire to know Him, even more He desires to reveal Himself to me. God's call on our life is that we might progressively come to know Him more and more. God has chosen us to reveal Himself to, that we might know Him more and more each day.

God's chief desire is not that we might know His doctrine, His laws, or His end-time plan for the earth, but chiefly He wants us to know Him; He wants to reveal Himself to us. For it is the knowledge of God that will transform our lives. The Apostle John said of Jesus, "In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men." (John 1:4) It was more than His words and His miracles, it was His life that was the light of men. If we are to grow in the light, then it is this life that we must come to know and to be intimately acquainted with.

Why has God chosen us to know Him? In order that we may be His witnesses. We are to witness to, not what we know, but who we know. John put it this way, "What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life -- what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you." (1 John 1:1, 3) It's not enough to know about God, but we must know God. People are not interested in what we know about God, but they want to know the God we know.

When Jesus left this earth, the Father decided to leave behind evidence, legal proof, of who His Son was and is. The Father has left a testimony of His Son for every man, woman, and child to see. What is this evidence? "And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life." (1 John 5:11-12) The proof of who Jesus was and is is seen in the lives that have been changed by His Spirit and grace. A changed live is the witness of Jesus power and sonship. As we grow in our knowledge of the Father, we are changed into His image, and our changed life gives evidence to the world that Jesus is alive and that He is the Son of God.

David Robison

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