It’s not what you know … but who you know … we’ve all heard that expression at one time or another … and in life … sometimes … that holds true … This past Sunday I heard my pastor modify that statement to say ‘it’s not what you know … but who is known’ … this sprang into a whole line of thought …
Who knows you best in life? Your spouse? … your parents? … perhaps it’s a sibling or a friend … and who do you know best? I’m sure the same list would apply … and when we think about how well we know someone … what do we know? Do we think we know all of their secrets? Do they know all of yours? I can tell you now that the answer is no … everyone has secrets … no one knows everything about anyone … well … there is one exception … and not only does He know everything about you … He knows everything about every single person on earth …
God’s omnipotence … When one says God is omnipotent (omni-all, potent—power) they are proclaiming that He not only has ultimate power over all things … but He is also the source of all power … Though He sets limits on all of creation … He Himself is limitless in strength … wisdom … love … holiness … and the ability to perform His sovereign will … The omnipotence of God credits God with infinite power … over all … at all times … eternally … and in all ways … Complete ability belongs to Him. His control covers everything and everyone … from the smallest to the greatest … His righteousness cannot be compromised … nor can it be without purpose …
So who do you think knows you best? Who knows all of your secrets … all of your thoughts … all of your actions … all of your omissions … your blunders … your slips … your lapses … Jesus … He knows it all … absolutely everything … He knows totally and completely everything about you … there are no secrets … that’s amazing if you really think about it … that the person that matters the most … knows the most … the person who’s judgement means the most … will have the most impact on your eternal life … knows all … Let that sink in for a minute … You are totally known … totally … You’ve never had a feeling … you’ve never had a thought … you’ve never done a deed … there’s not been a twitch in your brain or in your heart or in your body … that he hasn’t known fully and completely … unmeasurably more than you know yourself … and He loves us anyway …
So … there is always someone that knows everything about you … someone that can totally see right through you … someone that can see right through your mask … He simply and absolutely knows … This relationship is like no other relationship … It’s breathtaking … If you relate to him at all … you have the freedom to relate to him as utterly laid bare … absolutely known ... There is one … and only one … who truly knows you … only one … Your spouse’s knowledge of you … your best friend’s knowledge of you … your siblings knowledge of you is nothing compared to this …
One of the deepest longings of the human soul is to know ones self … to understand who we are … and why we are … and the wonderful thing is … we always have someone we can go to who knows all of the answers to all of these questions … and will reveal them to us at the proper time … which means the only way to achieve complete self-knowledge is to go to Jesus … and over time … in proportion to what is good for you … he will begin to lay you bare … and you will begin to gain some measure of self-understanding … and in heaven it will be complete … and you will be completely purified so you won’t be devastated as you would be if you knew yourself completely here … He knows what we can handle … and it is glorious to know that we are known by one who can help us know ourselves …
Remember the story about Peter denying Jesus three times … and he felt horrible afterwards … after Jesus resurrection … Jesus ask Peter three times … “Do you love me?” … on the last round of questioning Peter’s answer was “Lord, you know everything … You know that I love You.” Just as Jesus knew Peter’s heart … He knows yours … He knows if you love Him or not … He knows if you have faith … or not …
John Piper said … “He is willing to love you, knowing everything about you. Now, the reason I say he’s willing to love you — that may sound like an odd way to say — is because Jesus doesn’t love everybody the same way. The way he loves his sheep, and his disciples, and his children, is different from the way he loves those who reject him.
This is the way Jesus prays for his own people in John 17:9: “I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.” So that’s who he’s praying for. That’s a love that he doesn’t have for the world. You could call it intercessory love”
Jesus today is in heaven, interceding for you. He intercedes for you. He bought this intercession on the cross, and he applies his own blood, before the Father, interceding for you, to see to it that you will make it to the end — which is what he said he did for Peter, just as Peter denied him. “I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again [not if, but when you have turned], strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:32). I know you’re going down, but I know you’re coming up, because I’ve prayed for you that your going down would not be a staying down.
This is the authority of Jesus’ prayer for His own … John 1:12 tells us “12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—” If you receive Him … you are a child of God … and Jesus count you as one of His brothers and Sisters … and He loves you … sullied little secrets and all …
So as I close … if you are feeling misunderstood … or you are searching … or if you just want the best friend you can ever have … turn to the One who can be …who is … and who forever will be …
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Originally published by Joan Paschal on Feb. 6, 2023
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