One of the lessons my father learned in Christ, he said, is that anything we believe can be a lie as far as we know, and he exhorted all believers to pursue the knowledge of God rather than be satisfied with merely believing in Him. In this connection, he often quoted the apostle John: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you might know” (1Jn. 5:13a).
My father taught us that a newly born child of God knows his heavenly Father no better than a newly born human knows his earthly father, and that wise saints pursue the knowledge of God after being born again. The apostles were grieved when those whom they brought into the kingdom of God did not “follow on to know the Lord” (1Cor. 3:1–3; Gal. 4:19–20; Heb. 5:12–13; cp. Hos. 6:3), and they were thrilled whenever they did:
1Corinthians 1
4. I thank my God always for you, for the grace of God which is given to you in Christ Jesus,
5. because in every way, you are enriched in him in all speech and in all knowledge.
3John 1
4. I have no greater joy than this, to hear that my children are walking in truth.
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