Inkling

I talked earlier about how prayer’s ultimate goal is to know and obey the will of God and perhaps the greatest thing that God wills is to “know” us. Immediately we might say that God already knows us, but then there are the words of Jesus at the end of the Sermon on the Mount when he anticipates that there will be the day when many will say to him: “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?” And Jesus’ response will be: “I never knew you.”

What are we to make of this? It seems that Jesus is putting a high priority on relationship. There’s a difference between giving someone information “about” you and giving someone “you”. In his Letters to Malcolm Lewis suggests that it is not until we will ourselves to be known before God that we treat ourselves as true persons. “To put ourselves thus on a personal footing with God could, in itself and without warrant, be nothing but presumption and illusion. But we are taught that it is not; that it is God who gives us that footing. For it is by the Holy Spirit that we cry “Father.” By unveiling, by confessing our sins and “making known” our requests, we assume the high rank of persons before Him. And He, descending, becomes a Person to us.”

How often have you thought of it that way? That we are not fully persons until we make ourselves known to God – the good and the bad. Isaiah put it into his own words as he stood before God: “Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips.” It was his biggest step toward becoming a real person.

It may be the greatest gift we have for God -- our unalloyed selves. How much of your prayer life is spent in letting God know you?