Known By God

But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes. [1 Corinthians 8.3]

Being recognized by God is evidently quite important!

Jesus said it like this:

“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’ [Mathew 7.21-23]

In Paul's statement in 1 Corinthians above, the context is a discussion about knowledge as it pertains to food offered to idols. What Paul says is that just because a person may have an abundance of knowledge on a subject (any subject really) does not necessarily mean that person is right in his handling of it. He claims that God is not impressed by our knowledge, but rather, by our love. And, Paul states, God recognizes the person who loves Him!

If we compare this to what Jesus said in Matthew 7, we see that the people Jesus addressed evidently had great knowledge of "doing the right things" but had gained that knowledge at the expense of knowing the One for Whom they did the right things.

To love the Lord our God with all our heart truly is the greatest and most important commandment. Knowledge is not "loving the Lord our God with all our heart." Knowledge is good, but mostly only good for us. God is not impressed with our knowledge - even if that knowledge is about Him! To know God is good, but to be known by God is the greatest accomplishment. This can be seen in Paul's love chapter:

Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. [1 Corinthians 13.13]

While we spend many hours studying the Bible, we must not lose sight of being known by God.

Father, I feel totally random as I write this today, but I recognize an important truth in being known by You. I realize that all the knowledge possible to man - even knowledge about You -  cannot substitute for a relationship in which You know me.