T.G.I.M.

"And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." ( John 17:3 ) 

"Thus says the LORD: Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD." ( Jeremiah 9:23-24 ) 

"I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep." ( John 10:14 ) 

"What matters supremely, therefore, is not, in the last analysis, the fact that I know God, but the larger fact which underlies it - the fact that He knows me. I am graven on the palms of His hands. I am never out of His mind. All my knowledge of Him depends on His sustained initiative in knowing me. 

I know Him, because He first knew me, and continues to know me. He knows me as a friend, one who loves me; and there is no moment when His eye is off me, or His attention distracted from me and no moment, therefore, when His care falters. 

This is momentous knowledge. There is unspeakable comfort - the sort of comfort that energises, be it said, not enervates - in knowing that God is constantly taking knowledge of me in love, watching over me for my good. 

There is tremendous relief in knowing that His love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, and quench His determination to bless me.

There is, certainly great cause for humility in the thought that He sees all the twisted things about me that my fellow-men do not see ( and I am glad! ), and that He sees more corruption in me than that which I see in myself ( which in all conscience is enough ). 

There is, however, equally great incentive to worship and love God in the thought that, for some unfathomable reason, He wants me as His friend, and desires to be my friend, and has given His Son to die for me in order to realise this purpose. 

We cannot work these thoughts out here, but merely to mention them is enough to show how much it means to know, not merely that we know God, but that He knows us." 

( J.I. Packer, Knowing God, InterVarsity Press, 1972 ) 

Live in that thought this week! 

Happy Monday! 

Archive photo of Natasha with a new lamb and his mother