In 1987, on a bus from Beaumont to Houston, I met Stardust, an aging Hippie who talked to me about God. He was intoxicated by the false notion that nothing can be known for certain. He challenged me.
“How do you KNOW that you know God?”
I remembered one verse:
“If you love Me, you’ll keep My commandments” John 14:15.
“But no one can keep his commandments,” Stardust said, smiling. He thought he had me trapped.
“Nobody’s perfect,” I said. “But you do your best—and God knows your heart.”
After 90 minutes, I said goodbye to Stardust in Houston, having made no visible progress. He engaged in such conversations purely for entertainment. (He would no sooner reveal his true heart to me than his true name.) But I learned something from that conversation: if you know God, it will change your ACTIONS, not just your beliefs. If it does not show in your actions, then you don’t know Him.
John sums it up as LOVE: “He who abides in LOVE abides in God, and God in him…. The one who does not know love, does not know God, for God is love” 1 John 4:16, 8.
Consider God’s rebuke of Shallum, evil son of King Josiah:
“Didn’t your father eat and drink and administer justice and righteousness? Then it went well with him. He took up the cause of the poor and needy, then it went well. IS THIS NOT WHAT IT MEANS TO KNOW ME?” Jeremiah 22:15-16.
Knowing God means obeying Him and loving people, but it also means caring for justice, righteousness, the poor and the needy.
And I must add one more verse:
“What does the Lord require of you, but to DO JUSTICE, LOVE MERCY, and WALK HUMBLY WITH THY GOD?” Micah 6:8.
If you know God, you will obey Him. You will love people. You will seek justice, integrity, compassion for the poor, and you will be humble.
God, give us lives that honor You. May people see You in us. Remind us to act with LOVE, COMPASSION, and HUMILITY.
ΑΩ
Household Words: 