The ads that blanket your world
beckon you to trivial things.
Here is the great, the awesome,
and the only worthy pursuit.
In my previous post in this series, we saw that knowing God is the ultimate experience because he is good and because he is perfect. In this post we see that…
Knowing God is the ultimate experience because he is a divine person, not an impersonal thing or force.
God is he, not it.
That means we can have a relationship with him. He has mind, will, and emotions. He is alive. He has experiences. He communicates. He plans, desires, intends, enjoys.
We know God in the way we know a person, not the way we know math tables.
Disappointed Dreams
At some point in our lives we all have dreamed about obtaining some thing.
I have enjoyed photography since I was a teenager and over the years have bought three SLR cameras.
I don’t buy on a whim. With big purchases like that I research the product and prices thoroughly and usually pray about the decision for six months to a year before pulling the trigger. (I usually feel guilty about buying something like a camera and wait until I feel permission from God to do it.)
After waiting that long, I’m excited when the box comes in the mail.
With my last camera purchase a few years ago I enjoyed carefully unboxing the camera and patiently learning its features. I marveled at how much the technology had advanced since I bought my previous camera. I was impressed with the quality of the pictures. I was more than satisfied with the product and the purchase.
But the experience of owning and using the camera did not match my dreams of getting it. Likewise with lenses I have purchased for it. Likewise with every thing I have ever owned.
Things can’t bring as much lasting happiness as good people and healthy relationships. The reason bad people and unhealthy relationships are so painful is due to the tremendous power of people and relationships. When they are good, there is nothing better.
And that is why knowing God is so satisfying. God is the perfectly good person. With him we can have the perfect relationship.
God Is Love
God is a relater by nature. He is Trinity, three persons, one God. He has been in a relationship of love for all eternity.
Knowing God is dynamic. Our relationship changes and grows. There is give and take, back and forth.
We enjoy fellowship and togetherness. There is presence and absence. There is learning. There is knowing and being known, loving and being loved.
Knowing God brings joy as only a relationship, only a person, can. We are social, relational beings by nature, and that is because God made us in his image. God is social.
The pain of loneliness shows we were created for relationship.
Relating to people satisfies a need in our soul we do not fully understand. As we know God better, our need for relationship is met in an ultimate way.
We will look next Monday at more reasons why God is the ultimate pursuit.
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