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Colossians 1:10
10That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
He who doeth the will of God, by the very experience which this brings, increases of himself also in the knowledge of the Lord.
When there are two persons, one of whom is strictly orthodox, in his faith but indifferent as to his manner of life, and the other strict as to his manner of life, but careless as to the faith, then he who doeth the will of God, has a better chance of knowing God, than the confessor who surprises you by his accuracy of detail in doctrinal knowledge.
The so-called "Christendom of the deed," the "practical Christianity,"—this tendency to seek salvation in "Christian works"—was entirely right, in so far as the doing of God's will is certainly one of the means which is indispensable, if one would attain unto the full knowledge of God.
If the knowledge of God is eternal life, then this knowledge of God can not be something apart from life. Bring to mind again and again that eternal life is not life in the hereafter, but in the present. And this life does not come from the cistern, but from the Fountain. A knowledge of God which itself is this eternal life, can, therefore, not be thought of apart from your practical doings, your actual existence, your plans and your deeds.
If in all you do there is a will, and if your deeds are only right when they conform to the will of God, then you can not help seeing that there is a connection between the knowledge of God and the doing of His will.
The ox knoweth his owner, says Isaiah (1:3)—but Israel does not understand. In our country we would say: a horse knows his rider. The draft-ox is not largely in use among us. But how does the draft-ox know his owner, how does the horse know his rider? Certainly in part by the eye and in part by the ear, but surely not least by the manner in which they are treated. When the rider comes up from behind, so that the horse sees nothing of him, and he utters no word or sound, so that the animal hears nothing, the thoroughbred knows his rider at once, and is immediately aware whether his owner or a stranger springs into the saddle. That horse, if he is at all trained, knows the will of his rider and conforms himself to it, even so perfectly that at length he becomes one with his rider, and—as on the field of battle—will of himself do his rider's will even with loosened bridle. Thus the animal, by allowing himself to be carefully trained, has so far attained unto the knowledge of his owner, that it has become a living, subordinate instrument to him.
Thus also the child of God who has lived according to the will of God—and has conformed himself to God's will, by the help of that will alone has come to an instinctive knowledge of God, such as no catechism or creed can give him.
We do not say, that the knowledge of God thus obtained is the only knowledge, nor that it is sufficient, nor that it gives complete insight; what we do say is, that the doing of God's will brings a particular trait into the knowledge of God, which is indispensable if it is to be a living knowledge, and which can not be replaced by anything else, be it understanding or feeling.
Take the forgiveness of him who has wronged you.
As a child of God you know full well that this is your duty, even to this extent, that you are not done with it, when outwardly you restrain yourself, and requite no evil for evil. Christian forgiveness reaches much farther and goes far deeper. It must be an honest forgiveness, without any reservation. Not one single seed of anger or bitterness must remain in you, or it is not the forgiveness that God commands.
Thus, you must forgive your very worst enemy, and forgive in such a way that you bless him who cursed you and that you truly love him.
Mark you: you must love your enemy. Not show him love in order to show him how generous you are, and so by your show of love actually humiliate him. No, you must love him as yourself. This is almost incomprehensible, and yet absolutely necessary.
You pray in the Our Father: "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those that trespass against us."
To forgive you from love is thus the measure of the forgiveness of sin which you ask of God for yourself.
Not as though God would be bound to your measure, or that He should forgive you because you forgive. All this is subversion of the Gospel. No, it means that you dare not ask more of God than you know is in your heart to give to your debtors.
And what does all this mean, save that in doing the will of God by forgiving your enemy, you feel what forgiveness means, that you receive from God the sense and the will to forgive, and that thus you come to the knowledge of your God, as regards His will to forgive you.
He who himself does not forgive, who in spite of God's will continues to harbor hatred, and thus, in this matter of forgiveness fails of conforming himself to the will of God, lacks this particular knowledge of God which makes it clear to him how his God forgives him.
You see, therefore, from this one illustration, how the doing of God's will makes you increase in the knowledge of God in deed and in truth.
At the same time, you learn from this still something else.
The "practical Gospel of works" puts special stress upon doing something extra, something outside of the ordinary life. It speaks by preference, therefore, of "Christian works," of "Christian activities," by which it means, things that go on outside of the everyday life of one's business, family and society. Zealous missionary activity, promoting the interests of Christian education, visiting the poor, caring for the sick and blind, and so on, are the things which are called "Christian works."
And in part this interpretation is instinctively correct.
When, full of life and power, Christianity goes into the world, none of these things can remain untouched. It all belongs to it. Genuine, true Christianity can not satisfy itself with inspiring ordinary life. It brings with it all sorts of things that would remain unknown without it.
Only this: it is a great fault to suppose that it is all for the sake of the roses that grow against the wall, and that that wall back of the roses can be left to fall into ruins.
No, the doing of God's will covers the whole of our life, our ordinary as well as our extraordinary life, and the knowledge of God in the ordinary life is far finer, far more intricate, far more difficult than in those extraordinary things.
To know God's will in regard to your personal life, your calling, your life's task, your family with all its relationships—in regard to society and your touch upon people, is a life-study with which you are never done, which goes on until your death. And to acquire the power, not only of seeing in all this what the will of God is, but also to bend your mind to it, and to conform your life to it in everything, down to the smallest detail, is not only a daily study, but a daily struggle, in which he alone who is led by God's Spirit, triumphs.
He who applies himself to this and busies himself with it every day, learns ever more and more to understand God's will, and with every victory which he gains, he also daily increases in the knowledge of God, a knowledge which he acquires not with his understanding alone, but with his whole person.
The more you begin to feel as God feels, and become minded as God is, the more truly you become the child of the Father Who is in heaven. It is not the will of God that only for a single time, against your inclination, you should curb yourself heroically, and yield yourself to God; no, to do the will of God, is, so to become transformed in your mind and inclination, that you yourself will what God wills. And he who attains unto this, and is daily concerned therewith, increases in the knowledge of God, by increasing in the knowledge of himself.
You will appreciate this when you call to mind that in God, Being and Will are not two, but one.
God's will is the crystal-pure expression of His Being. Knowledge of God's will thus becomes of itself knowledge of His Being. The one is not to be separated from the other.
Only, the will of God can only become completely known along the way of the will. For should you recite the Ten Commandments, and gather every utterance of God's will from the whole of Scripture, this would not give you the least right to say that you therefore know the will of God. You may know it by rote but the will is within, and can only be known within, by having your personal will enter into the will of God.
What it means to pilot a ship through the channel into a safe harbor can not be known by him who has merely read a book on the art of navigation; it is known only by him, who has himself been at sea, has commanded a ship in the storm, and has safely brought it to port.
In the same way, the knowledge of God's will is not acquired by learning lessons in morality by heart, but with the organ of your own will you must so grasp the will of God, that you yourself fulfill it.
You need not for this reason censure this "practical" Christianity as though it were of no use. On the contrary, it is absolutely indispensable. Only, you must add depth to it. You must apply it to your whole life. And, further, you must clearly see that the knowledge of God which comes by doing his will, far from being the whole knowledge of God, is only a part of it. A part, which certainly must not be wanting, but which, only in connection with that other knowledge of God, which you acquire by the understanding, feeling and imagination, together constitute one whole, and together form that full knowledge of Him, which is eternal life.
Only do not lose sight of the fact that the daily "increase in the knowledge of God" (Colossians 1:10) is acquired preeminently along the way of the will.
There is a twofold will of God.
There is a will of God concerning you, which determines your life, your career and lot in life. It was in regard to this will of God that Jesus prayed: "Not my will, but Thy will be done."
There is also a will of God for you which tells you how you must will, and what you should do and not do; and it is this will of God, of which it is said in the Our Father: "Thy will be done, as in heaven by Thy angels, so on earth by me."
And it is this latter will of God, which, if you live by it and conform yourself to it little by little makes you increase in the knowledge of God.
* * * * * * *This devotional classic offers 110 meditations on a single thought from Psalm 73: "As for me, it is good to be near to God." The author states, "The fellowship of being near unto God must become reality ... it must permeate and give color to our feeling, our perceptions, our sensations, our thinking, our imagining, our willing, our acting, our speaking. It must not stand as a foreign factor in our life, but it must be the passion that breathes throughout our whole existence."
The meditations reflect the blending of spiritual vigor with doctrinal loyalty so consistently expressed in the life of Abraham Kuyper. These are devotions with true substance, avoiding the extremes about which Kuyper adds a word of caution: "Stress in creedal confession, without drinking from the Living Fountain, runs dry in barren orthodoxy, just as truly as spiritual emotion, without clearness in confessional standards, makes one sink in the bog of sickly mysticism."
Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920) was a Dutch political leader and Calvinist theologian. Elected to parliament in 1874, he became Prime Minister in 1901 and served in that capacity until 1905. As a theologian, he revived a systematic, orthodox Calvinism. He founded the Free Reformed Church and the Free University of Amsterdam. His other works include Principles of Sacred Theology, Lectures on Calvinism, and The Work of the Holy Spirit
Further information about Abraham Kuyper's life can be seen in the translator's "Biographical Note"; further information about To Be Near Unto God can be found in Abraham Kuyper's "Preface" to that book.
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