A 'Knowing' Relationship with God
“I am the good shepherd.
I know my sheep, and my sheep know me,
just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father.
I give my life for the sheep."
(John 10: 14, 15)
It has been a closer walk with God. Over the years, we have been receiving His abundance of grace and love, with the richest blessings He has been giving us. And through all the times of trouble, especially when we were broken, stumbled, gone astray and felt lost, God was with us, making us understand His wonderful guidance in our lives.
Today, if we could look back at the path that we have already walked on, we could understand that it has been a relationship of knowing God more and more. Our Lord, our Creator, knew every bit of thought we would have and the move we would make. He knew it even before we were formed in our mother's womb. God says to us in Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you." And that is the distance from which God kept loving us. He loved and cared for us even before our mother. And in this 'knowing' relationship, God waits for our part to be done.
Jesus openly proclaimed the beauty of this relationship. The Son of God invited us to play an active part in this relationship. He said, "I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me." A good characteristic of a shepherd is to know every sheep by its behaviour, its hyperactivity, its weaknesses, its disabilities, its food preferences, its fears, its attractions, its disturbances, and many more.
God, as our shepherd, knows each and every one of us in His flock. He says, "I know my sheep." And, as He says that, Christ Jesus invites us to know Him too, our shepherd, more and more. It is this inter-assurance of knowing each other very well, in and out, is the speciality of this wonderful relationship with God. And that is the invitation Jesus gave us in this world.
Seldom we find leaders who know their people. It is hard to find followers who are individually known by the person leading them. And, it is also very less nowadays to find relationships in which people know each other very well. And in the midst of such a troublesome environment of 'not knowing' Jesus invites us to be in a 'knowing' relationship with Him.
To show us the magnificence of this relationship of 'knowing', Jesus shows the relationship between The Father and the Son of God as the example. He wants us to maintain this relationship in the same way. After inviting us to be in such a cherishable relationship of knowing, Jesus says that the relationship must be "just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father." Establishing our relationships with God through Jesus was the whole purpose of God sending His only begotten son Jesus to the world. John 3: 16 says, “God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life." And it is this eternal relationship that God wants us to be assured of.
This invitation for a relationship of knowing each other comes with an assurance. It is an assurance of sacrifice. Just as Christ Jesus said "I am the good shepherd," He also says "I give my life for the sheep." This is the speciality of this relationship. It is a relationship of knowing, and the price Jesus paid to ensure the continuation of this relationship is, giving His life as a sacrifice! A good shepherd is ready to sacrifice his life to save his sheep from any danger and trouble that may come. And we find, not just the assurance, but the confirmation of this assurance in Christ Jesus, as He hung on the cross as the sacrifice to ensure that the relationship between God and us continues eternally.
Today, this invitation is for you and me. This invitation from Jesus to be in a 'knowing' relationship with Him. How very well do you know your shepherd? You know, very well, that your shepherd knows you in and out. But what about you? What is your effort to ensure and beautify this relationship? Do you know the shepherd whom you are following? Let us take time to know our God. It is true that through each circumstance we get to know Him better. But let us now only wait for circumstances. Let us also make the moments where we would go in search of who our Lord our God is.
I pray that the blessings of God our Father, the grace of Jesus Christ the Son and guidance of the Holy Spirit will enable us to know our God more and more and to follow Him with all the love and willingness as we serve Him truly.
May God bless you.
Yours in Christ,
"Take Time to be Holy"
