There are times when we find ourselves trying to figure out how to get God to move in our lives.
Maybe we fasted.
Maybe we prayed longer.
Maybe we gave more.
Maybe we resisted something difficult.
Those things are not bad. In fact, many of them are good. But if we’re honest, sometimes we quietly trace our steps afterward trying to figure out what worked.
“Was it the fasting?”
“Was it the prayer?”
“Was it the giving?”
And before long, it can start to feel like we’re trying to discover a formula.
But Jesus said something that reframes everything:
“This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
— John 17:3
Eternal life is not defined as getting something from God.
It is knowing God.
Not knowing about Him.
Not knowing religious systems or practices.
Knowing Him.
Knowing Our Father
When Jesus came preaching, His message began with a simple announcement:
“Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”
Repentance is often misunderstood. It simply means to change the way we think.
Jesus wasn’t just correcting behavior. He was correcting our view of God.
He taught us to pray:
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.”
With those words, Jesus shifts the entire perception of God.
Not a distant judge waiting to punish.
Not a taskmaster measuring our performance.
Our Father.
And Jesus asks a simple question:
Which of you, if your child asks for bread, will give him a stone?
If we know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more does our Father in heaven care for us?
His Thoughts Toward Us
When we begin to know God, we begin to discover His heart toward us.
Scripture says:
“I know the thoughts that I think toward you… thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
— Jeremiah 29:11
His will for us is not destruction.
Jesus said plainly:
“I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly.”
— John 10:10
God’s desire has always been life.
Life overflowing.
The Image He Intended
From the very beginning, God revealed His intention for humanity:
“Let us make man in our image.”
To be made in His image means something incredible.
We were created to reflect His nature, His character, and His life in the earth.
That intention was not abandoned.
Through Christ it is restored.
“Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
— Colossians 1:27
The hope of glory is not something far away.
It is Christ in us.
The Pattern We See
When we look through scripture, we begin to see the same picture appearing again and again.
In Eden, God placed humanity in a garden filled with life and abundance.
In the Promised Land, God brought His people into a land flowing with milk and honey.
And Jesus spoke constantly about the Kingdom of Heaven.
Three different settings.
But the same heart of God.
Life.
Provision.
Relationship with Him.
The story of scripture is not about God trying to keep people out.
It is about God continually bringing people back into life with Him.
The Needs We All Carry
At the deepest level, we all share some of the same needs.
We want:
to love and be loved
to live and be secure
to matter and have purpose
When those needs go unmet, we can chase them in places that slowly lead us away from life.
But knowing God begins to settle those needs in a different way.
In Him we discover:
We are loved.
We are given life.
We are called with purpose.
Not because we earned it.
But because He is our Father.
Taste and See
The invitation of scripture has always been simple.
“Taste and see that the Lord is good.”
— Psalm 34:8
Not:
“Perform and prove.”
But:
Taste.
See.
Know Him.
Because when we begin to know our Father, everything else starts to come into focus.
His thoughts toward us.
His will for life.
His intention that we walk in His image.
And the hope that Christ in us brings.
So maybe the instruction isn’t complicated.
Maybe it’s simply this:
Taste and see.
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