The idea of a "personal relationship" with God has never resonated with me. I can't see God, can't hear God and can't feel God. I'm not sure what is meant by the phrase, "personal relationship." In the NT we find much about obeying God, loving God, serving God and knowing God. Paul's desire to know God is challenging. In what way does one know God? My own experience has led my to believe that faith is the key to knowing God, with or without re-enforcement from the Godward side. We are to trust in God's goodness and love him regardless of our feelings and regardless of any perceived response or lack of response from God. We are to believe and trust in our salvation through the death and resurrection of Christ. My love for God is determined at any point or moment of the day by my willingness or unwillingness to respond to his unseen presence in faith and obedience. Do I love the unseen God more than I do anything seen or perceived physically or mentally? And can I remain faithful when joy does not immediately accompany my obedience? Jesus was not joyful on the cross but he endured it for the joy set before him. Some persons seem to exude joy constantly, others struggle to find it occasionally, some seem never to experience it; but none of us will experience it in its fullness until we see him in his fullness. Choosing moment by moment to follow him regardless of our feelings and regardless of material reward is our calling. "Whom having not seen we love with joy unspeakable and full of glory." Peter's experience my not always be ours but his example is worth seeking.
posted by bill rosser @ 4:34 PM
2 Comments:
Interesting. Paul disdained the law and any concept of 'earning' one's salvation-yet his striving to 'know' Christ almost approaches a lawlike zeal. He gives up all to 'know' Christ and the fellowship of His sufferings and to be conformed to His death-it's as if the only way Paul knew to 'know' Christ was to identify with Him in every asspect. How different is forsaking all to 'gain' Christ from striving to keep the law in order to earn God's merit?
My take on Paul is that he did not forsake all so much as he came to re-evaluate all in relation to Christ. Everything once considered positive was now negative, dung, in comparison to Christ. Through the law the focus was on himself and his performance; in faith the focus is on Christ and his performance. I don't see his desire to know Christ as in any way related to his previous dependence on the law. I just see a man so humbled by grace that he cannot get enough of the one who set him free.
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