What Is the Significance of Knowing God?

Why do we pursue to know God? In what lies the significance of knowing God? After man was corrupted by Satan, he became a man of Satan and opposed to God. For thousands of years, man has been subject to the influence of all kinds of poisons of Satan and its various kinds of education; man has been completely possessed by Satan’s poisons, by its falsehoods and philosophies. Therefore, man has unwittingly become opposed to God and arrayed with Satan in its work of opposing God. When God comes to do His work, man measures God’s work by his own notions and the philosophies of Satan. Having seen that God’s work does not accord with those notions, he starts to take Satan’s part in judging God and resisting Him. After man has accepted God’s work, he does his duty and serves God according to his own likes and notions. The result is that once again he unwittingly offends God’s disposition, and becomes opposed to Him. So, whether you accept God or not, whether you truly believe in Him or only pretend to, as long as you do not have real knowledge of God, you are opposed to Him; this is categorical. You say: “I do feel that God is good, I am most willing to love God, most willing to obey Him.” These are desires in your heart. But if you do not have real knowledge of God, you will be unable to obey Him, you will be unable to love Him despite your wanting to. What now is the reason for this? God’s work does not conform to your notions, so, you cannot love Him. God’s work does not conform to your notions, so, you cannot serve Him. The minute you serve Him, you will cause disruption, you will go against His will. The minute you serve Him, you will take the wrong road. This is proven by the experiences of countless others. Therefore, if you do not know God, no matter how determined you are, you will be unable to obey Him, and you will be unable to serve Him. If man does not know God, his life disposition will never change, for Satan’s poisons, philosophies, logic, and laws within him, the knowledge of the social sciences he carries within, his outlook on life, his values, and his idea of happiness, all of these belong to Satan, all of these go against God’s will. How, then, are we to address them? What is the effect upon man of their wielding power within him? Is it not his hostility to God? If those things of Satan within man are not addressed, man will continue as ever to oppose God, because those things wield power within his heart. Even when he does not want to oppose God, he will do so; even when he does not want to judge God, he will do just that. Man is unable to control himself, for those things are just his points of view and he sees things according to them. What means must we employ, then, if we want to address these poisons of Satan? By understanding the truth, and by knowing God. When you understand a truth, you will distinguish those things within you that are opposed to it, you will distinguish those things within you that are incompatible with it. When the truth is accepted by you, it will wield power within you, it will take charge within you; those various poisons of Satan opposed to the truth will not be able to remain, and shall be abandoned by you, discarded and cleansed away by you. These poisons of Satan are cleansed away through the truth in this way. The more truths you accept, the more those things of Satan within you will be rejected and denied, and finally lose their place. Once the truths you accept take charge and are able to stand within you, you will have been purified by God’s words; this is the fruit of the work of God. The more you understand the truth, and the more you know God, the more the truth will wield power within you. Thus the things that are of Satan will be cleansed and swept away and you will be one who has been purified; this is precisely the effect of the knowledge of God. Therefore, by knowing God you will be purified, and you will have a heart within you that is obedient to God and that loves Him. Thus, you will be fundamentally changed in your life disposition. Therefore, the significance of pursuing to know God lies in its ability to bring about changes in our life disposition, and in its ability to cause us to be cleansed within from the poisons of Satan and to make us achieve true obedience to God, true love of God and true worship of Him. This is the greatest significance of knowing God. Now we are certain that it is only by knowing God that we can be saved and that we can change from being a man of Satan and opposed to God into being a man of God and truly obedient to Him. These are the fruits of knowing God. Knowing God can make us truly obedient to Him and worship Him. If we are someone obedient to God, someone who worships Him, are we not then living out a real life? A real life is what someone who can obey God and worship Him lives out. … Why does God require all mankind to be obedient to Him and worship Him? Where does its meaning lie? Some people say: “We humans like when people obey and love us, and God has the same disposition as us: He requires man to obey Him and love Him.” Is such an explanation right? Some say: “Some leaders always ask people to obey them, to love them, follow them; this is arrogance and conceit. As God also requires man to obey Him, to love Him, then God’s disposition is pretty much the same as man’s.” Does this stand up? Think about what the consequences of people’s obedience to a man are. What are the consequences of people loving a man? Is this meaningful? All men are corrupt; none are worthy of being loved by others, of being obeyed by them. Man is not the truth. Therefore, for a corrupt man to make such demands is to be arrogant and conceited. God is the Lord of creation, He is the truth, the way, and the life, and He is the Almighty, the Master of the heavens and earth and all things. What is the significance of His requiring man to love and obey Him? Everything that God does is most meaningful, but for mankind it is a profound mystery. Only someone who acts in accordance with God’s words is able one day, having experienced it to a certain depth, to understand this profound mystery. When they understand it, then they will have truly gained God and obtained the truth. The Lord of creation requires that mankind know Him, that mankind worship Him; this is perfectly justified. No man is qualified to demand that people obey him, that people love him; man is not God, man does not have the almightiness and wisdom of God, and no part of man is worthy of people’s love. Thus, if any man makes such demands, he is too arrogant and conceited, and he is expressing the disposition of Satan. … Why does God require that we know Him? Because God is the truth. Who will benefit when man has gained the truth? It is man who will benefit; as for God, He has gained nothing, but He will feel satisfied with man, whom He created. It is man who will benefit; it will be a boon for man. If you do not pursue to know God, you will not be able to gain the truth; if you fail to gain the truth, as a creature, you will not live out a life of meaning and value. Therefore, God requires you to know Him in order to let you live well, to let you live happily and live meaningfully. Is this not God’s love for mankind? God requires you to listen to Him, because He is the truth, the way, and the life; He is of infinite wisdom, He knows the right way for man to live, and knows what we lack, and He knows the most meaningful life we should live out—God knows best of all. God is the truth, and so He requires you to pursue knowledge of Him. He does so in order that you can gain the truth, that you can obtain life, that you can live more meaningfully, happier; this is why God requires you to do so. God asks His creatures to pursue knowledge of Him in order for them to gain the truth, and in order that they will live meaningfully, will not go astray, follow Satan, or be tricked and bewildered by it, and will come out from under its domain, so that they will enter upon a life of light. Therefore, that God requires mankind to pursue knowledge of Him is out of His love for mankind. So if we are now asked whether this requirement of God is good for His creatures or not, the answer is “Yes!” We have to realize the significance of this; it is not that God is arrogant and conceited. God in Himself is greatest and noblest; He is the Master; whether you worship Him or not, God is the Master. The main reason that God requires man to pursue knowledge of Him is to let mankind that He created live more happily, live a life of greater worth and meaning. In this way God will be satisfied with His creatures, and will be glad and consoled in His heart. Thus, that God requires man to know Him, love and obey Him has a positive meaning; it is not of the same meaning as people demanding this from others. That is being arrogant and conceited, is of their extravagant desire; that is being senseless. That is expressing their corruption and being perverse. Whatever God requires of His creatures stems from His love of them and is to save them; it is to make them take the right path and be happier, and thus God will be satisfied. So, are you now willing to pursue knowledge of God? Are you clear about what fruits your doing so brings? It is the case that you can only gain the truth through pursuing to know God. It is only when you have gained the truth that you can live in the light, and it is only when you live in light that you will be living out the likeness of a real man, and living out a real life. Therefore, the significance of pursuing to know God is so vast and so far-reaching.