“Now this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent” (John 17:3, BSB).

I have been saying that God’s desire is for you to know Him. This verse is why. To know Him is eternal life. He desires that all might be saved. His desire is that all come to repentance so that none perish.

How does knowing Him save us? One, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. To know His greatness, His awesomeness, His holiness, His majesty, His superiority, His transcendence, His power, His justice, His wrath, is to learn the fear of the Lord, is to learn humility, is to keep us submitted to Him and obeying His Word, which is the path of righteousness which leads to eternal dwellings.

Two, to know Him is to know His love, His kindness, His patience, His mercy, His goodness. To know Him in this way is to receive His love in all its fullness, all its splendor, and to become God’s child and know Him as your loving Father who cares for you. And in knowing Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection to reconcile us to the Father, that we might have this access to Him to get to know Him. In that, we find eternal life. Seek to know Him. While it can be useful to learn about God, that’s not what we need. We need to know Him. He needs to become a real and personal God to us.