The Individual’s ‘Intimate’ Purpose
- To Love God With All Their Being
The Lord has called us to love Him with all our being:
Deut. 6:5 "And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might."
Mark 12:30 “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.”
We are also called to trust the Lord completely, and acknowledge Him in ALL our ways:
Prov. 3:5, 6
5 “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
Love God with all my being? Trust Him with all my heart? Acknowledge Him in all my ways? Is this possible? Are these commands not perhaps like the ten commandments, the Lord’s standard, which are way beyond our capability? The ten commandments are beyond our capability to keep because to be justified before God, by keeping the Law, we would need to keep them all perfectly all of our lives. Where the callings to love, trust and acknowledge the Lord are goals believers are to grow towards, and comes with the means to confess our sins when we do fail.
Reason demands that I not only have great knowledge of the One calling for such commitment, but that that knowledge be enhanced by personal experiential knowledge. I.e. I not only know about Him, but know Him personally - really know Him! Only then could I learn to trust Him completely and love Him with all my being.
It is more than sanctified reasoning that demands that we need to know Him, to know Him enough have such a complete commitment to Him. It is the Lord’s desire for believers to know Him. Not just to know about Him, but to know Him well!:
Joh 17:3 “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”
When I received Christ (John 1:12) I was born-again (John 3) I was reconciled to God. A relationship was initiated where I started to get to know Him. This is what receiving eternal life is all about … being reconciled to God and thereby getting to know Him.
Jer 9:23-24
23 “Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:
24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.”
The Lord says through the prophet Jeremiah that the believer is to highly value ‘understanding and knowing’ God. The believer who both ‘understands’ and ‘knows’ God has moved beyond basic knowledge of Him.
The Bible is the source to build our foundational knowledge of God. Throughout the believer’s life he / she will get to know the Lord more and more as the Bible is read, meditated upon and studied. Built upon this foundational knowledge is the vital knowledge gained in the Christian believer’s ‘walk’ with God. The believer’s walk is the daily experience with God in one’s daily life. Where we discover, from personal experience, the truths taught in the Bible. This personal experience is spoken of in the following Bible passage:
Psalms 34:4-10
4 I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
5 They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.
6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.
8 O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
9 O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.
10 The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.
Psalms 34:4-10 is full of references to the believer who has learned to live his / her faith in everyday life. King David urges us, in verse 8, “O taste and see that the LORD is good,” or ‘experience the LORD for yourself, and you will discover that He is good.’ The believer who strives to obey and honour the Lord in all he or she does, will be the one who will discover that the Lord is good.
Those who are careless and don’t acknowledge the Lord in all their ways (Proverbs 3:5-6) will not have the same discernable experiences of God’s goodness. And even when the Lord does provide and take care of them, they will in most cases not notice. Being to caught up in living for this world and themselves.
It is so important that we are walking with the Lord in daily obedience, to the end that we learn to ‘acknowledge Him in all our ways’, that we learn to ‘trust Him with all our hearts’, to where we ultimately learn to ‘love Him with all our being’.
This is the believer’s ‘intimate’ purpose in life, their personal response to Almighty God’s reaching out to them as individuals.