SO WHATS THE PROBLEM?

Last week we began this new series of insights by noting that one of the greatest needs of the church ‑ indeed, some consider it to be the greatest need of the church ‑ is for deeper knowledge of God.

By that it's not meant that we need more information about God. Information about God abounds to the point where it threatens to smother us. No one is saying we need more books in the Bible, nor more books about God or journal and magazine articles based on the Bible. What they are saying we need is more personal knowledge of him. Many of those who know a great deal about God still seem to know little of him.

Before reflecting on how we can know God in this personal way it might be helpful to pause and consider why this need exists. Why is it that so many know so much about God and yet at the same time know so little of him?

One explanation that comes to mind is our incomplete sanctification. There is still much about us that doesn't find pleasure in God himself or in things related to him. We don't always want to listen to his word or talk to him in prayer. We often find the things we can see and smell far more attractive than spiritual realities. None of us is so spiritually attuned that we find it instinctive to be always thinking about God and focused on heavenly things.

Then there is the problem of our self‑centredness. One of the effects of sin is it makes us self-focused. But we can never really know another person when we are always primarily interested in ourselves. We don't make good neighbours and friends and group‑members when we are always thinking about ourselves and absorbed with our own interests. We need to forget ourselves to know other people. We have to be ready to listen to them, ask questions of them, and take a genuine interest in them as people.

That's often our problem when it comes to knowing God. As J.I. Packer says, we are typically self‑absorbed in a way "that treats our enjoyment of life rather than the glory of God as the centre of interest" (Keep In Step With The Spirit, p. 97). That means that whenever we turn our attention to him it's generally to get something for ourselves. We are not interested in listening to him or really learning about him. And if that's the case, we can never hope to have intimate fellowship with him. The relationship will always be one‑sided.

Then there's the problem of busyness. It seems we are always in a hurry and always have things on our minds these days. Genuine quietness of spirit ‑ not unhealthy blankness or passivity but a spirit that is at rest and open to input from others ‑ is rare. Whether it's the busyness of activity or the noise of our surroundings, there seems to be always something clamouring for our mind‑space. To quote Packer again, "Modern Christians tend to make busyness their religion. We admire and imitate, and so become Christian workaholics, supposing that the busiest believers are always the best" (Ibid., p. 98).

But a constantly busy and distracted mind doesn't make for intimate relationships. Listening and speaking with full engagement takes times. More than that, it requires a certain stillness of spirit. There's no doubt that one of the reasons people today don't know God as deeply as they ought is that they don't give him either the quantity or quality of time needed to sustain an intimate relationship

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