We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him. (1 John 5:20 ESV)
It is of the greatest
importance for the Lord's children to recognize fully that, above all other
things, His object is that they should know Him. This is the all-governing end
of all His dealings with us. This is the greatest of all our needs....
Our minds are so often occupied with service and
work; we think that doing things for the Lord is the chief object of life. We
are concerned about our lifework, our ministry. We think of equipment for it in
terms of study and knowledge of things. Soul-winning, or teaching
believers, or setting people to work, are so much in the foreground. Bible study
and knowledge of the Scriptures, with efficiency in the matter of leading in
Christian service as the end in view, are matters of pressing importance with
all. All well and good, for these are important matters; but, back of everything
the Lord is more concerned about our knowing Him than about anything else. It is
very possible to have a wonderful grasp of the Scriptures, a comprehensive and
intimate familiarity with doctrine; to stand for cardinal verities of the faith;
to be an unceasing worker in Christian service; to have a great devotion to the
salvation of men, and yet, alas, to have a very inadequate and limited personal
knowledge of God within. So often the Lord has to take away our work that we may
discover Him. The ultimate value of everything is not the information which we
give, not the soundness of our doctrine, not the amount of work that we do, not
the measure of truth that we possess, but just the fact that we know the Lord in
a deep and mighty way.