Knowing and Trusting

". . . For I know the one in whom I trust . . ."  2 Timothy 1:12

How true are these words?  It is not the fact that I trust Him that I would question, but the comment 'I know the one."  How well do I really know Him, and how well do I need to know Him before trusting Him?  I guess the real issue is not 'trust' but 'know'.  How well do I want to know Him?  How well can I get to know Him?

One of the people I most admire in the bible is Enoch.  Enoch walked with God and became so close to God that he one day walked off with God.  What kind of a relationship did they really have?  Why are we not told more about Enoch?

So, what do I really know about God?

• He is an all loving father.  And how do I know this?  What father, if he did not have an infinite amount of love, would sacrifice his true son for the sins of his adopted children?  Only one who had so much love that in him that it transcends the understanding of man.
• He is the creator; this is something I have no doubts about even if I cannot physically prove it.
• He is forgiving.  This goes back to my first statement about Him being all loving.
• He is all knowing, for why would God even create man if he did not know ahead of time that there would be those who were worth His effort and who would love Him beyond all humanly reason.
• He is trustworthy.  He made a promise to Adam and Eve after they fell that He would send one who would crush the serpent, and He did by sending part of Himself in the form of a son, and then willingly offered that life to save mankind from his sins.
• He loves me; see what He did as a loving father, for if that is not proof of His love for me, than nothing is.  This statement is more than "He is an all loving father" because it pinpoints me specifically.  I feel it is very important to  remember that He Loves Me, not just everybody else because when I look at it that way, I forget that He does these things for me personally not a just some random person.
• He knows me; it says in the bible that He knew us before the foundation of the earth (Ephesians 1:4), and He tells Jeremiah that He knew him before He formed him (Jeremiah 1:5).  If that is true for Jeremiah, then I believe it is true of me also.  Besides, how can you love someone so unconditionally without know them?

This might not be everything that I know for sure, but I believe it is a good start.  I do like how the amplified bible reads: ". . . for I know (perceive, have knowledge of, and am acquainted with) Him Whom I have believed (adhered to and trusted in and relied on) . . . " 2 Timothy 1:12.

Is it not true that it is hard to trust those in whom you do not believe or have no acquaintance with or knowledge of?  I really like the term "acquainted with."  The Merriam Dictionary defines 'acquaint' as "to cause to know personally," and is that not what our relationship should be.  We should know our Lord personally; we should have a personal relationship with Him, and when we do, it is much easier for us to trust and believe in Him.

The Finite Mind

I have just received a study book called "This I Know For Sure" by Babbie Mason.  Now there are very few things I dislike about bible studies, but the one that I have the most trouble with is that there is a lesson for every day of the week, and I seem to have a problem following that schedule.

I guess my problem is that I look at things from to many angles. This title, for instance, has me already pondering what I do really know for sure about God, and my first 'for sure' item is that God is the creator of . . . and then I found myself limiting Him be thinking 'the universe.'  I had to stop right there and begin to wonder if that is true or not.  Oh, not that He created the universe but if that is all He is the creator of.  Then I began to realize that we have very finite minds.  We think in what we know and can see, but how do I know that God did not create other things that I cannot see.  Why do I limit Him in that fashion?

This is not the only time I have realized how finite my mind is; the first time was when I started to think about the concept that 'God always was;' He has 'no beginning' and 'no end.'  What a concept, but one I cannot see.  This thought, I have to confess, occurred when I was very much younger, maybe 12 or 13.  I spend sometime thinking about the idea of having no beginning, which is hard, for you see, we are told everything had beginning, and even Genesis talks about the beginnings.  The beginning of the world, the beginning of the flora and fauna, and the beginning of man and woman, but it does not tell us how God began because He had no beginning.  Try to image that; God just was and will always be.  After much thought, I finally realized I just had to accept that fact as true and not try to figure out how it could be true.

Now I am asking myself, what else might God have created that man has no concept or knowledge of, and why do He just credit the universe to His creation.  How do we know what else there is that exists that we have not way of understanding because our minds are so finite.  The other side of that coin is asking myself if I really understand what infinite is, and if I can conceive of such an idea in relation to God.

Infinite is such a vast concept, that I am not sure if my mind will ever be able to wrap around everything that word encompasses. When I was much younger, I watched, for the first time, the movie "The Incredible Shrinking Man."  It was not until much later that I learned it was first a book by Richard Matheson.  When I finally found a copy of the book and read it, the main character, Scott Carey, talked about a time when he would shrinking into nothingness because his height was exponentially decreasing.  Now here is the interesting thing, when he mind realized he would be below one inch, he thought he would just cease to exist, but what he discovered was that, even though he continued to shrink, his existence was not measure in a way that he understood because he would never decrease in height to disappear, but would decrease in measure that man no longer recognize as measurable.  Is that not what happens with God when we think about his creation.  We only acknowledge what is recognizable to our minds and fail to think past that, so we, in actually, are limiting God because of our 'finite' minds.

So, what do I know for sure?  I know that God is the creator, but I will not limit what He has created because there is so much I still have to learn and recognize even if it is not in this life time.  Oh the questions that will be answered when I finally reach heaven, but then I wonder if I will understand all the answers I have been looking for.  Will my mind still be 'finite' or will I finally have an 'infinite' mind.

Matthew 5:27-37: Clean Thoughts

Jesus warns his disciples that even their thoughts can be a sin when the thoughts are about something that is inappropriate.  So what does this mean for us?  How often have we had unclean or inappropriate thoughts whether in anger or in lust or in thoughtless moments?  How can we avoid such thoughts that are considered sinful and harmful to us and our relationship with Jesus?

This may seem a lot to think about, but a contemplation worth our time.  I know that I need to consider what I think about so that I'm not offending God or impeding my developing relationship with our Lord.  So, how am I do do this?  Is it not at times of the most emotional time or when we are too idle that we seem to let our minds wondering and sometimes it wonders in directions that are not acceptable or appropriate?  If that is the case, then I need to watch myself at such times so I do not fall in a trap that will take my mind places it should not go.  I must remember that the enemy if roaming the world seeking those he can devour.

So, why does this seem to be a problem for us not only as Christians but as nonChristians?  Could it be because Satan is the god of this world, and he really is seeking those he can devour with sin and corrupted lives?  I know I do not want to be one of those he can devour - I want only one God in my life, and that is a God who has forgiven me and will help me to improve my life for the better.  With that knowledge, then I know that I must watch what I say and how I think because when I am not controlling my thoughts, it is easy for words to slip out of my mouth that should not be said.  I must monitor not only my thoughts but my words as well.  It is so easy to be influence the world and other around us that we can conform to what others say and do without realizing it, and that is what Jesus was warning his disciples about.

Jesus wants us to keep our hearts and minds pure and free of the world's - Satan's - influence; He wants to be our guide, our protector, our main focus, and why shouldn't He - let me never forget that He willingly suffered and laid down His life for me so that I may have salvation and the hope of heaven.

Thank you Jesus for loving me enough to die more me in the most horrific manner possible at that time.  Your death was the beginning of my life.