What Does It Mean To Be Fully Known & Fully Loved?

It is through the perfect sacrifice of the Son of God that we pass from death to life; Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures; he was buried, and he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures; he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.  Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time. Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

Brothers and sisters, the deepest longings of our soul are to be intimately known and accepted; free from the fear of judgment, free from the fear of rejection, free from the fear of intimacy.  We desire to be loved without condition nor qualification, within the confines of right-relationship with God, as He makes known to us in the Holy Scriptures.  The following quote by Tim Keller captures the practical essence of these truths:

“To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us.”

The most important relationship in the life of a believer is his or her relationship with God; everything else is secondary.  When our hearts are regenerated by the Spirit of God, we have eyes to see that we were fearfully and wonderfully made by God, knitted together in our mothers’ wombs.  We come to understand that He knows everything about us; there is nothing He does not know.  He knows the number of hairs on our heads, our thoughts, our beliefs, the motives and intents of our hearts, all that we worship and place our hopes in, and much more.

The prospect of our heavenly Father knowing everything about us is a terror to the rebel, but comforting to the child of God who has made Jesus Lord and keeps a repentant heart, surrendering to His perfect and acceptable will.  Do you know that submitting to the will of God is the same thing as receiving His love?  Brothers and sisters, love is not something we get, it is something we receive, and receive from God.

True, real, ongoing, everlasting relationship requires transparency, vulnerability, honesty, and openness.  One of the most profound realities in The Garden of Eden is described in Genesis chapter Two.

Genesis 2:25 “And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.”

Is this not the very paradise of God, to be intimately known and loved by God and another?  Adam and Eve felt no sense of shame or need to hide themselves for fear of the other looking upon them with anything other than approval and acceptance.

Brothers and sisters, choices are set before us—will we believe, and will we trust in the knowledge that God is sufficient for us?  When the Lord Jesus Christ returns in glory will He find faith on the earth?  Or will we seek to be like God, forsaking His promises and trusting in the false gods we create for ourselves—resulting in separation, condemnation, and death?  As the truth and power of God’s Word penetrates the fatness of our hearts by the power of His Spirit, we begin to see our utter poverty before Him—we are weak in our flesh—fragile, frail, and fickle.

He is worthy of our trust and obedience because while we were still sinners Christ died for us, and we know every good thing comes from above, from the Father of lights.  The power of our heavenly Father’s love disarms the orphan heart from defense mechanisms and protective behaviors—so we unclench every idol, take captive every false belief, and renounce the hidden things of shame, to the glory of the Lord our God.

To be fully known and fully loved means I am thankful and joyful that my heavenly Father knows everything about me; He knows my false beliefs, my fleshly struggles, and where I lack faith to trust in Him; yet, He accepts and loves me, like no one can, and He continues to draw near to me as I draw near to Him in the fear of the Lord.  Behold, the cross is not just a revelation of our sin, but a revelation of our value to the Father; God would rather die than not have us with Him.  Take hold of Him, brothers and sisters, and never let go.  For the Lord is our Shepherd and we shall not want.

No eye has seen, no hear has heard, and no heart has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him.

Psalm 139

1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.

7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.

13 For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.

19 Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
O men of blood, depart from me!
20 They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!