| THE SUPREME GOAL IN LIFE Every one of us is born with a deep need to know our Father. We can deny it with atheism, bury it with distractions, or embrace it by seeking, but it won’t go away. Knowing our Father is food for our spirit, our hearts will cry out to know our Father all our lives. We hear the call in boredom, emptiness, anger, frustration, meaninglessness, trivial pursuits, and lack of fulfillment. We can wander through life “looking for love in all the wrong places,” as the song says. Knowing God makes us feel alive. “And this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” [Jn. 17:3]. Tolstoy said, “To know God and live are the same thing.” Knowing our Father God gives us the motivation and ability to do what is right and leave a significant legacy for our children and the world. “His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness” [II Pet. 1:2, 3]. I don’t struggle with knowing what is right, but with finding the power to do it. When I focus on trying to do right, it makes it worse, because I am thinking about what not to do wrong! When I focus on knowing God, he supplies the power to do it on the rebound. When the world is pouring its lies, corruption, and illusions into our brains, we can take a shower in the knowledge of our Father, and find freedom and peace. “…They have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord” [II Pet. Increasing in our knowledge of God helps us pierce the world’s illusions and see into reality. Wise Solomon said that the beginning of wisdom is respect for the Lord and knowing Him gives us understanding [Prov. It took me about twenty five years of living to discover that knowing God was the supreme goal and the core desire of my heart. I heard, “Set your goals” and “Pursue your dreams” from some ultra-successful alumni, whose name I can’t remember, sitting in my high school gym at graduation. All I could think about was getting out of school, and having a fun summer, swimming, cruising in my dad’s convertible, chasing girls, and playing baseball. Of course, these were goals, but not exactly what that speaker had in mind, I’m sure. I did pursue those goals, but they got me into more trouble than good. Of course, my parents’ goal for me was to “get a diploma.” But that was a little vague when you open up an inch-thick college catalogue with hundreds of courses to choose from and don’t have a clue what to do with your life. Since I came from four generations of doctors, I assumed I was to follow in my father’s footsteps. I enrolled into the premed track, but somewhere in the middle of Organic Chemistry, I lost that goal when I got a “D.” So I drifted away from science and into philosophy. However, I couldn’t find a goal that matched my interest, excited my need for adventure, and raised my dignity as a man. I didn’t know who I was or why I was here. What I didn’t know then, but know now, is I am here because my Father put me here Every year, over four million high school and college graduates pour into our American culture having heard the words “wisdom,” “knowledge,” and “truth.” Yet very little is allowed to be taught about the One who said, “I am the truth” [Jn. 14:6]. Activists go to court to erase the memory of the words of the One “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” [Col. 2:3]. Without the knowledge of God, we are “lost.” The heart of our Father is the most important subject any young person (or any person, for that matter) needs to study. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, one of What Fenelon said in the 1600s is still fitting today. “What men lack most is the knowledge of God. They know when they have read a good deal, a certain sequence of miracles and works of the providence in the deeds of history. They have made serious reflections on the corruption and frailty of the world. They are even convinced of certain maxims useful to reform their habits as touching their salvation. But all this edifice lacks foundation. This body of religion and Christianity is without a soul. What should stir the truly faithful is the idea of a God who is all, who does all, and whom we owe all.” But don’t just take my word for it. Listen to the testimony of others who have found the secret. Bono, the lead singer and songwriter for the rock group U2, said, “It’s a mind-blowing concept that the God who created the universe might be looking for company, a real relationship with people.” I agree with Bono. Sometimes I just pause in the middle of a busy day and say, “Father, thanks for just being there!” It feels good to know he is there even if I haven’t talked to him for awhile. The root of life is relationship with our Father, and it is awesome to consider that He wants us with him. The supreme goal of the greatest Christian missionary in history was not evangelism, leading as many people to Christ as possible, building churches, or making disciples. Paul was clear about his greatest purpose in life. “Yes, furthermore I count everything as loss compared to the possession of the priceless privilege — the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth and supreme advantage — of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, of perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and clearly. For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all rubbish (refuse, dregs), in order that I may win Christ... [For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him” [Phil. 3:7-10 Amp.]. The deepest desire of J. I. Packer, who wrote the classic book Knowing God said, “Once you become aware that the main business that you are here for is to know God, most of life's problems fall into place of their own accord” [J. I. Packer]. How can we get to know Him? Our creator, God, knew our greatest need was to know Him, so He made himself known through creation, His written Word, and His Son. Creation is speaking about God every moment in trees, seeds, stars, animals, and man. “God's glory is on tour in the skies, God-craft on exhibit across the horizon. Madame Day holds classes every morning, Professor Night lectures each evening. Their words aren't heard, their voices aren't recorded, But their silence fills the earth: unspoken truth is spoken everywhere” [Ps. 19:1-4 Msg.]. To find God is to listen to these “silent voices.” “We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature—trees, flowers, grass—grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls" [Mother Teresa]. God made it so clear we are without excuse. “They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God” [Rom Our Father wrote a letter to us about His nature and ways—the Bible. Jesus said, "The Scriptures point to me!” [John 5:39-40]. To know God, we must consistently read His Word for ourselves and note what it says about God. For years I have engaged in the discipline of recording what I call “God sightings” in the Bible. I read a book of the Bible to find out what it says about God. This practice rescues me from the self-centered approach of reading to see what I get out of it. [For an example of “God Sightings,” see Appendix 1.] Jesus is the one who knows Father the best, and can give an accurate view of God’s nature, because He is God. He said to Phillip, “He who has seen me has seen the Father” [Jn. 14:9]. It is wise to spend some time in the Gospels where we see in the life of Christ, the nature of God. To know someone, we need honest communication, not lies and deception. God has been absolutely truthful with us. When we get with him, we are exposed in light. “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that ‘God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.’ If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth” [I Jn. 1:5, 6]. We have to stop performing and be who we are. This is walking in the light. It is a painful process, but God’s light comes with love and acceptance. My first mentor, Kenny, used to take me into the boiler room to pray. Being from an Episcopalian background, I thought I was supposed to impress God and prayed in a low, serious voice using old English phrases filled with “thee’s” and “thou’s.” Kenny used to stop me in mid-sentence, realizing I was just being phony. He encouraged me to “say it like it is, because God loves ‘real.’” Being honest and real with God was freedom to my soul, and it had the added benefit of helping me discover who I was. We not only have to be who we are, but we have to let Him be who He is. “On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd behind, they took him into the boat, just as he was.” In order to go with Jesus through the storms of life and reach the other side, we must invite Jesus into our “boat” just as he is—not as we think He is. If we invite our concept of Jesus into our lives, we are only creating an idol. “Do not search for God by the discursive exercising of your mind; let him be, I say, as he is” [The Book of Privy Counsel]. We get to know God as we do what he says. “If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own” [John I knew Him as an historical person in the Gospels, seeing Him meet my needs, brought Him into the present. One recent incident of many stands out. I found his grace many times in His provision, especially when I didn’t deserve it. Several days when I was acting like a jerk, I found big gifts in the mail. I laughed on the way back to the house and my attitude would change instantly. I got to know His love when I deserved it the least. There are also hard times in knowing God. Sometimes we are summoned to share his sufferings. ”My one determined purpose is that I may know Him in the fellowship of His sufferings being conformed to His death and experience His resurrection” [Phil. A few months out of university, I met a great old saint in |