Doves On Distant Oaks

Experiencing God

There is a discipline in mathematics that actually crosses many disciplines. It's called mensuration and it's how we measure things. It can be applied to just about any academic study.

Notwithstanding that the study of techniques to measure things is important, to much time spent studying how to measure them detracts from the time and effort to engage with the character and personality of that which we study. And that fact not only can, but should, be applied to our grasp and appreciation of God.

We study, we analyze, we discuss—we dig apart and find the nuance of every passage in the Bible, hoping to find a more complete and comprehensive perceptive insight. We measure how deep our understanding goes. Then we walk away and forget to apply that understanding to the real world ... until the following week when we do it all over again. We forget that study which leads to our spiritual growth must be implemented on a daily basis for it to have meaning. The study of the nature of God occurs more in the classroom of life, not just sitting in a pew.

Technical studies of a sunset can explain how a sunset appears as it does. But it's beauty cannot be analyzed. God doesn't want to be studied to death. He wants more from us. The term we often use for this is to experience God, but that phrase often creates difficulty in understanding how to do that, and in fact, is often misleading.

The Apostle Paul was struck blind on the road to Damascus which was the source of his conversion. Sometimes, we look for that same experience—a "Damascus Road" event. That's how the term "experiencing God" can become misleading. Most of the time, the real connection to God is not through an emotional experience, although they can be rewarding and shouldn't be discounted. But we can get too distracted by searching for that experience that we miss the nuances of connecting to God, which more often occurs in the quiet of our hearts.

The key to experiencing God, then, is not expecting some kind of emotional experience. It's the daily process of loving Him through Jesus Christ, and in turn, loving others. That, in turn, produces joy—not the happiness of man, but the joy of God.

The true way to experience God is simply to experience love—confident in His love for us, loving Him in return, and loving others as a fruit of our relationship with Him. Certainly, study is important, but at some point we have to stop measuring the depth of our understanding and simply start loving.

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

– John 15:9-12

Keywords: Love, Joy, Measurement

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