Know that you know Him.

1 John 2:3 By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. We are encouraged today that one can know that one knows God. Do you know that you know God? John had been proclaiming that Jesus is God in the flesh. To know Jesus is to know God. We don’t have to wonder where John got the insight contained in this verse. He got it from Jesus. Speaking to the Jews who were accusing Him of having a demon, He said, “And you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know Him and keep His word” (Jo. 8:55). Like Jesus said, one sure indicator that a person knows Jesus as God is that the person keeps His commandments or values His word. If we want to get to know someone, we listen attentively to them and then keep or guard what we learn about them so we can love them. John remembered what Jesus told he and the rest of the disciples (who were the we of whom John was writing), “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15). “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word” (John 14:23). “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love” (Jo. 15:10). In John 15, Jesus switched back and forth between saying “words” and “commandments.” To Jesus, His words and commandments were synonymous. John’s point in this verse was to encourage his readers to have integrity. I want to encourage you to do the same. If you know Jesus as God, you will live to love with Him. He commanded His disciples to love as He loved (Jo. 13:34), He promised them that He would do it, He would love in and through them as they kept His word and asked Him to do it. I hope you will live to love with Jesus today by holding fast to His word, trusting Him to empower you by His grace to live it. In so doing, you will know that you have come to know Jesus personally and intimately. Also, everyone else who knows Him will know that you know Him.