Passage Read: Galatians 3-4
Meditation Verse: 4:9
Thought
It is interesting how Paul corrects himself: "Now that you know God--or rather are known by God." It is not so much that he said something wrong--we have come to know God as compared to before when we knew nothing about God until someone shared the Gospel with us and we heard about God and believed in His Son, and were adopted into His family. We were formerly slaves, not really knowing our Master. Then we learned about Him and believed in His Son and He came to know us. That's the most interesting part: Now He knows us--and that is the more true statement! He knows everything and He created all things, including us! He knows every person who has ever lived and ever will live. But that's not Paul's sense here. When we believe the Gospel, we are brought into His family: He knows us in the sense that Jesus uses "know" when He rejects those who think they belong to Him but He refuses entry into His kingdom because He doesn't "know" them. He doesn't claim them, acknowledge them, receive them, take them as His own. Because they didn't care to remain with Him, learn from Him, become His true disciples by doing His Father's will according to His teachings. They met Him, heard some things, then ran off to do their own thing in His name. They never really knew Him and didn't submit to His leadership, so He never claimed them and received them as His own, though He had welcomed them to come and listen and learn from Him. He taught in their streets, they heard Him, but they didn't humble themselves and learn from Him to walk in His ways, so He never knew them. The Father receives us, claims us as His own; He knows us. But we're still just learning who He really is, and we need to continue to learn. Otherwise, we're in danger of discovering that He doesn't really know us because we go off and do what we think is good and right, rather than learn from the Lord of the Manor how to behave as His child, how to walk in His ways--even as the Galatians are in danger of finding themselves cut off from Christ.
Application
Salvation means being known by God, as a child He claims as His own. At the time I come to believe, I only know enough about Him to be saved, but I can't really say I know Him in the same way He knows me. Rather, receiving His salvation should begin a lifetime of learning who my Father is, and the more I learn of Him, the more I conform my life to His likeness. I should want to know so kind and mighty a Father, as fully as He knows me! I look to the Law and all the rest of the Scriptures to know Him, and I see where I need to change to become more like Him. But knowing Him is not about holy days and special celebrations and markings in my flesh or in my clothes; it is about the joy of a secured salvation gifted to me and a delight in the One who died and rose again to redeem me--a nobody! A delight and admiration that drives me to know Him better and better, and to imitate Him ever more perfectly. He knows me at the moment of salvation, but I still have much I need and want to learn about Him. The Law or the rest of the Scriptures shouldn't scare me, but using them incorrectly--misunderstanding their use--that should scare me! My salvation is secured by Christ, not by keeping every command of the Law. The feasts, the sacrifices, the cleanliness requirements and more can teach me things about Christ, but I'm not obligated to keep any of them, either for salvation or to gain favor with my Father. It is these Scriptures that open God up to me, so that I can know Him as He knows me, and understand better how to represent Him to the world.