Spending Time with My Father and Knowing God

For as long as I can remember, my dad has been a car guy. During my growing-up years, he was a mechanic, and my earliest recollections are of his legs poking out from beneath a car, or his head under a hood. His hands, the same ones he used for our tickle fights, wore remnants of leftover grease (he hadn’t quite managed to scrub away) in the crevices. On Sunday mornings, he’d be up early cleaning his car so we could go on a long drive somewhere. Recently, my dad turned eighty, and just this week, he helped change my tires and clean my car. His passion for cars has never waned.

I’m not a car girl, but I’ve rarely had a conversation with my dad that didn't include cars. Because I love him, I try to listen, even though I have no interest and quickly get lost in the details. He has likely explained dozens of times, but I still don't know where certain car parts are found or what they do. It’s amazing that, even though I grew up with him and have listened to him talk about cars hundreds of times, I never embraced his love of cars.

I think about this in relation to church goers. Like me as a child growing up with my dad, we can grow up in the church, hear countless sermons about God, sing the hymns, recite Bible verses, and volunteer our time, yet not know or love God. We can try to listen, follow all the rules, say and do the right things, and be a good person yet never truly understand or embrace God’s love or experience a personal relationship with him.

I wonder how God feels about this? Knowing God intellectually is not the same as knowing God in your heart and being in relationship with him. We can know all about God, obtain a PhD in Religion, or even become a pastor, but none of these will change our heart or ensure we go to heaven. However sad it may be for my dad that I don’t share his passion for cars, when we disregard what we have known and learned about God, I’m sure it breaks God’s heart. Thank goodness there is much more to faith in Christ than knowing everything, trying hard, or behaving well.

We read in the Bible, “The Lord says: These people come near to me with their mouth and honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught (Isaiah 29:13). When we reduce God’s extravagant love to a list of rules or best behaviour, we lose the essence of who he is and what he did for us. He is a loving, merciful Father who seeks to be with us. He sent his Son to die for us to make that possible—now and for eternity.

Once we get even a small glimpse of God’s forgiveness and love, we’re never the same. It’s impossible to embrace his love and remain as we were. As the song, Amazing Grace, says, “I once was lost but now am found”, when we are found in Christ, all the things we knew in our head, we come to know in our hearts. And that knowing—with our whole being—radiates within us, as though every cell becomes oxygenated with His love. It is miraculous, and holy, and unmistakable. It is truly living.

When we ponder our day-to-day lives, are we truly living? Do we know of God, but don’t really know him? Do we know what it is to receive his grace and mercy and the gift of life through his son Jesus Christ? If we’re honest, maybe we’re just getting by, following the rules, and trying to be good while feeling a little dead inside. Maybe we’re wondering if there is more to all we’ve been taught than staying in line? Jesus says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).

Isn’t it a relief to know that Jesus made a way for us to release religion and rule-following and replace it with an intimate relationship with God? We no longer need to try to earn our salvation, work hard to be loved and accepted, or play God to control all the variables of life. We can trust him, receive his love offer, and rest in his presence knowing that “The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17).

Though I don’t know everything there is to know about cars like my dad, he is delighted when we simply spend time together, even if we don’t talk about car stuff. Likewise, our Father-in-Heaven longs to be with us, spend time with us, and be in close relationship with us. We don’t need to be talking about religious stuff. Just being together is enough.

This way of being with God, knowing him, and believing in him is the most profound and miraculous experience of being human. It is freeing, light, and rich. Resting in God’s love, forgiveness, and grace is life-changing. Our ability to receive God’s love is both the anchor and the salve to our lost and aching soul. We need only take the knowledge of God’s love from our heads and believe it in our hearts. His love is only a breath—one prayer away.