to know...

I opened my facebook and read these words,
 "... but this is all i know."
A simple, honest, hopeless phrase.

So I shared an even more depressing thought: "My people perish for lack of knowledge." (Hosea 4:6)

Helpful, aren't I?

What we know isn't all there is.  But if that's what we rely on, we will die.

What was God Almighty, the Holy One of Israel, calling the people to know?

Paul prays for the new believers in Ephesians, "That they may know..." and he lists three amazing truths... foundational truths... on which to build our lives.  (1:18-19)

• the hope to which He has called us (there is a hope for me!)
• the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people (an inheritance?!)
• His incomparably great power for us who believe (that power is available to me!)

As I searched for the exact reference to that passage in Ephesians, I typed "that they may know" into my google search bar.  My browser reminded me that there is a whole list of "that they may know"s.  So I wrote them down.

that they may know...

• the will of God
• that I am the Lord
• the love of Christ
• the height and depth and length and breadth of God's love
• the hope of His calling
• one another

Each of those little bits of knowledge has had great impact in my life.  For the past 20-something years, they have transformed a life destined to perish, and brought healing and hope and purpose.  And this is the short list!  There is so much more to know, as it's written in the Word of God!

So that you may know!

Ephesians 3:19 - to know the all-surpassing love of Christ.

To know and be known.

What does it mean to know?  You can merely acknowledge, or you can soak it in and let it permeate every fiber of your being... knowing by experience what is "the riches of His glorious inheritance in (you)."

He's calling us to something better.  "This" doesn't have to be all you know.

Praying, my friend, that you would know.