One of the ideas in the book The PAPA Prayer that I just read was that we need to be real about what the ideas in our head of what God looks like, and second, we need to change those ideas to match the reality expressed in the Bible. I've been thinking a lot about that today, and it hit me that Jesus says, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9). To me that means that if I want to know what God is like, I need to pay attention to the character of the God-man Jesus. I started doing that today by reading the Message version of the Gospel of John and am enjoying it thoroughly. On verse that particularly struck me (since it addresses this very issue) was John 1:18: No one has ever seen God, not so much as a glimpse. This one-of-a-kind God-Expression, who exists at the very heart of the Father, has made him plain as day.

I also picked up another book today that I've been meaning to read for a while, Knowing God by J.I. Packer. It was funny how I was in the middle of praying that my heart would be focused on knowing God that I remembered the book. I bought it in October and just haven't had a moment to more than glance at it. Today is the day. I hope that it is a chance for me to adjust my vision of God to align more clearly with the truth and less with pictures I have seen in the past or what I wish God were like.

Above all, I am praying that I would approach knowing God as the priority in my life but not as another matter of study. I am so used to running after tangible goals that make me feel more valuable as a person for having achieved them. I don't want to "use" God that way. I just want to come to a place where I can know Him, not to improve my mental health or my reputation, but just for the sake of knowing Him.

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