Known and Loved

Les Henson

Too often, we focus on our need to know God; however, the reality is that any knowledge of God that we have acquired or eventually possess is dependent on a much more critical factor. As P. T. Forsyth once wrote: “Religion turns not on knowing but being known.” Our knowledge of God is dependent upon the reality that God knows us. We discover God’s knowledge of us in and through the reconciling love of Jesus and the truth that before we were even born, Christ died for us. Consequently, the more we enter into a meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ. The more we understand that God’s knowledge and love for us both precedes and exceeds our knowledge and love for him. God has not only revealed himself to us in the Scriptures but most fully in the person of Jesus Christ and continues to do so in and through the Holy Spirit because he is there, and he is not silent. Accordingly, as we participate in God’s mission in and for the world and the spreading of the knowledge that we are known and loved by God, we understand that he has good purposes for us and those to whom he sends us.