THE SUMMUM BONUM
‘An heart to know Me.’
That is all we need. For we live by nature, that warped and distorted nature of ours, under the strangest delusions about God.
I. For example, we conceive of Him as indifferent to our welfare; a God far-off and not nigh at hand.—Or, again, we paint Him as all good-nature and tolerance, an easy-going King, Who will not deal harshly with us even if we have offended, Who will readily overlook our faults and sins. Or we swing to the opposite extreme, and think of Him as mere justice and sternness and severity; we tremble when we remember Him; having once turned round we walk on, ‘and turn no more our head.’
Surely what our souls require is to know Him, as He is in actual reality, and to be emancipated from falsehood and dreams.
II. For He is not unconcerned about us.—He cares for me so much that, to save me, He has stooped to the manger and has endured the Cross. And He is not remiss and negligent towards sin. He hates it so entirely that, when our sin lay on His dear Son, He punished it there with shameful and bitter death. And yet He is far from being a God of Draconian rectitude and rigour. For Jesus’ sake He will blot out as a thick cloud our transgressions. For Jesus’ sake He will clasp us to His own heart of throbbing love.
Yes, it is the essential possession: a heart to know God.