The Price of the Knowledge of God

The tower of Babel was built by men seeking to reach God.  Knowledge about God has been sought by many throughout the generations of mankind.  But one verse has shown me the difference between the knowledge about God and the knowledge of God.  Philippians 3:10 (NIV)  I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,  and the following verses show what it takes to attain such knowledge.  (NASB) ¹¹ in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.  ¹² Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. ¹³ Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

There is an upward call.  We are "on a journey" or you could say we are in a process.  We are being saved.  A bumper sticker proclaimed "that God is not finished with me yet."  But I am not finished seeking to know Him.  That knowing is not mental.  It involves surrender of my own opinions and control.  It changes how I regard myself and the protection I seek.  Acceptance that you may be misunderstood, reviled, rejected, and even ridiculed and persecuted must become more than a mental acceptance.  It is a setting of your will to endure at any cost and to complete the race with focus on Him.

We pray, "for Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever," because that is what we learned to say.  To live in that kingdom as a resident under the King's domain, to submit to His will and to try to understand His power, is to have the kingdom within us.  Most of Israel, chosen by God to be a theocracy, never wanted that relationship or comprehended the power of God that was manifested to them on their behalf.  But a remnant in every generation sought that relationship with God.  Jesus, God coming to our aid in flesh, lived out the life of "connection in relationship" that revealed what God wanted us to have and to be.  He was begotten of God, but by His obedience to the Father's will and plan, was proven to be, the Son of God.  (Romans 1:4 and Philippians 2:6-11)

Paul saw and understood this.  He knew that suffering the same rejection that Jesus knew was inevitable if he pursued that path Jesus walked.  He embraced the cost for the prize.  Jesus endured the cross, the humiliation, the misunderstanding and rejection, for His prize--our exaltation with Him eternally!