Knowing God is costly. Don’t fool yourself. If you want to know Him, you will have to lay all that you are, all that you plan to be, and all that you have on the table. If, at any moment, you pull it back, the process of getting to know God comes to a halt. There will be no progress. He will reveal Himself to His children, but He will not reveal Himself unless He has access, full access, to you. It is costly, but oh, it is worth it!

In this passage, adapted from The Sermons of Behold Your God: Rethinking God Biblically, Dr. John Snyder explains 4 truths you can’t miss if you want to truly know the God of the Bible.

To set our hearts toward a right pursuit of the one true God, there are four basic truths that we must master. These truths will help us to understand and benefit from the Scriptures that contain God’s self-descriptions. These are truths that we want to get a grip on, but they are also truths that we want to get a grip on us. 

1. The Most Significant Thing About You Is What Comes to Your Mind When You Think of the Word God

This truth applies to all people and not just to those who claim to be Christians. Every man, woman, and child will make choices based on his or her general idea of what God is like. Even an atheist has a type of religion based on the thought that God doesn’t exist. And, based on his belief in the nonexistence of God, the atheist will make certain decisions. He makes certain decisions in his home; he makes decisions at work. The Muslim makes decisions based on his view of his god. The Christian makes decisions based on his view of his God. What you think of God is the most distinguishing thing about you. Education, ethnicity, age—none of these are so distinguishing as what you, deep down, really believe about God because that belief affects everything. All desires, thoughts, and actions will flow from it.

So, what is your view of God? I’m not asking you what your official view of God is. I don’t want a Sunday school answer. I don’t want you to ask yourself, “What does my church say I’m supposed to believe about God?” I don’t want you to ask, “What does my denomination say I should believe about God? What do the books on my shelf say I believe about God? What do my parents say that I should believe about God?” The question is: What do you really believe and think of when you think of God? Your true view of God is not as easy to spot as your denomination’s views, creeds, or confessions. Your true view of God might remain hidden under a huge pile of rubble made up of phrases you picked up from church or Christian podcasts. Your true thoughts of God may be hiding behind the words you say that sound good but mask what you actually believe. If you are going to really understand what you think about God, it will take a courageous and determined search of your heart. 

2. Knowing God Is the Great Jewel of Christianity

Though we are thankful for the many other gifts that have come from the cross of Christ, those gifts all lead back to this great source—the knowledge of Christ Himself. Currently, even in churches, the idea prevails that knowing God is a casual and easy thing! Knowing Him is on the same level of relationship as bumping into a stranger and acknowledging his existence. For example, a child comes to the pastor and says, “I don’t want to go to the hell that you’ve talked about. I want the heaven you talked about. I want the friends you talked about. I want the happiness you talked about.” Those are all good things, and the pastor says (depending on the church tradition), “You need to join the church,” “You need to get baptized,” or “You need to repeat these words after me and ask Christ into your heart.”

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