We’ve seen that what God requires of us as His people and citizens in His Kingdom is a pretty tall order. Almost, we might think, impossibly out of reach. But not where God is concerned. Todays’ excerpt from The Kingdom Turn if found on page 49
“So all the things that God ‘requires’ of His people seem to flow logically out of their knowing Him. Indeed, the very first of God’s commandments begins with His declaration to them of Who He is – their Redeemer and Lord. To know God is to fear and love Him, and to follow, serve, and obey Him. God could not require such things of us if He did not first make Himself known to us. But once we begin to know the Lord, then all these requirements make perfect sense, and follow like night after day.
“To know God is both to fear and love Him; it is to walk the path He walks, to look for ways of pleasing Him, to enjoy His favor and delight in His pleasure, and to obey the wisdom and promise of His revealed statutes and commands.“The one thing necessary for us to fulfill all that God requires is that we should know Him. And this involves receiving what He is pleased to reveal about Himself, as much as we can, from the words He speaks and the works He does.
“God is to be known in His works and His words, and since we will neither fear nor love Him, serve nor obey Him, enjoy nor delight in Him, apart from knowing Him, it appears that what lies back of what God requires of us is that we know Him, know Him personally and intimately, and relate to Him as His children, people, and friends.
“One thing, therefore, is necessary, and one passion should consume us, if we would do what God requires and enjoy the blessings of our Kingdom citizenship, and that is that we should know Him.”
For reflection or discussion
1. What does it mean to “know” God? How does one come to “know” Him? What difference does that make?
2. How is it evident to the people around you that you know the Lord?
We cannot patch-on what God requires of us—fear, serve, keep, all that. We can’t patch it on from without. It must come from within where knowing God fills us with such awe and love for Him that we are willing to be or do whatever He requires. Share today’s podcast with a friend, then get together to discuss it. Your copy of The Kingdom Tun is waiting at The Ailbe Bookstore. Why not order yours today?
T. M. Moore
