#Reflection #Knowing_Jesus
"I Know Him, for I Am Of Him, and He Sent Me" (Jn 7:29).
No one has ever dared say that they know God. Many have only said that "they believe in God." Only our Lord Jesus Christ Spoke the words: "I Know Him." And immediately He Explained from Whence He Knows Him, Saying: "for I Am Of Him, and He Sent Me." The first reason: "I Am Of Him" Testifies to the Eternal Being of the Son; and the second reason: "And He Sent Me," Testifies to the Manifestation of the Son in time in the physical world as an Emissary of the Holy Trinity.
For us, who are Christ-believing, it is not given to know the Father as His Only-begotten Son Knows Him, but to us it is Given, and Commanded, that we believe. Our Merit is in believing, and not in knowing. If all of us knew God by seeing, no one would have any Merit. For what kind of merit is there in seeing, and recognising? However, to not see yet believe, in this is Merit; in this is Virtue; in this is our Salvation. We are unworthy to see God, and by seeing to know, for we are weakened by sin, and alienated from God. But God's Mercy Gave us Faith in this life, which is able to bring us closer to God, and to lead us into the Everlasting Kingdom of seeing and knowing in that Life. O, my Brethren, let us believe on Christ the Lord, for He Knows. He Speak not by faith, but by Knowing.
O Merciful Lord, Confirm the Faith in us. Extend the Hem of Thy Robe, that we may hold on to it even to the end of our lives. Amen.
St Nicholai Velimirovich, from the Prologue of Ohrid (6th February)
"I Know Him, for I Am Of Him, and He Sent Me" (Jn 7:29).
No one has ever dared say that they know God. Many have only said that "they believe in God." Only our Lord Jesus Christ Spoke the words: "I Know Him." And immediately He Explained from Whence He Knows Him, Saying: "for I Am Of Him, and He Sent Me." The first reason: "I Am Of Him" Testifies to the Eternal Being of the Son; and the second reason: "And He Sent Me," Testifies to the Manifestation of the Son in time in the physical world as an Emissary of the Holy Trinity.
For us, who are Christ-believing, it is not given to know the Father as His Only-begotten Son Knows Him, but to us it is Given, and Commanded, that we believe. Our Merit is in believing, and not in knowing. If all of us knew God by seeing, no one would have any Merit. For what kind of merit is there in seeing, and recognising? However, to not see yet believe, in this is Merit; in this is Virtue; in this is our Salvation. We are unworthy to see God, and by seeing to know, for we are weakened by sin, and alienated from God. But God's Mercy Gave us Faith in this life, which is able to bring us closer to God, and to lead us into the Everlasting Kingdom of seeing and knowing in that Life. O, my Brethren, let us believe on Christ the Lord, for He Knows. He Speak not by faith, but by Knowing.
O Merciful Lord, Confirm the Faith in us. Extend the Hem of Thy Robe, that we may hold on to it even to the end of our lives. Amen.
St Nicholai Velimirovich, from the Prologue of Ohrid (6th February)