July 18 II Peter 1:2--5 Knowing About or Knowing ?

My pastor is doing a series from this passage in Second Peter, and I have been mulling over the words: knowledge of God and adding knowledge. The verbs translated knowledge here have the sense of knowledge and understanding. This made me think of Christ's words that I talked about in my last entry, "If you knew me, you would know my father also."( John 8:19)

I have been married over 40 years, and in that time, I have learned a lot, arrived at a lot of knowledge about my husband - just because I have lived so intimately with him. And, humanly speaking, I really like hanging out with him. I can recognize his voice in a crowded room, and I know, that though I may not agree with all of his decisions, he has my best interests at heart...at least most of the time.

Now for those same 40 years, I have been in a relationship with God, but I am ashamed to say, I have not consciously spent nearly as much time with Him. I say consciously because He has spent all that time with me, but I have not paid nearly the attention to His presence as I have to my husband's.

Another thing I have been thinking a lot about is how we allow others to set our agenda; we think more about pleasing other humans and measuring up to their priorities than we do to God's. We feel very comfortable telling people that we have spent a couple of hours watching a movie or some kind of sporting event or even cooking shows. We are not the least bit reticent about telling someone that we have spent an hour or more working in the garden or kitchen or in the gym. But, when it comes to telling them we spent an hour or more reading the Bible or studying it or reading some other spiritual-growth producing materials, it is another matter.

We fear that others might think we are bragging or trying to look spiritual (more spiritual than they are) or trying to appear better than they are, so we keep our mouths shut, about spiritual things. And everybody suffers! We do, because it is as we talk about spiritual matters, about what we are learning about the person God, that we are both encouraged and challenged and we encourage and challenge others. And others suffer because we are so afraid to be misunderstood that we refuse to be vehicles God might use to encourage others.

God gave me the opportunity to encourage an old friend today, and I took it. I sure hope that it wasn't just a once in a while thing, and that I listen more to Him than I do to anyone else, especially when it comes to not just knowing God, but passing it along.