We are not born with innate knowledge of anything. The nearest thing to pre-birth understanding is the sucking reflex, which is an instinct, not learned behavior. Therefore, in order to know anything the human being must learn it either by experience or by deliberately studying the subject. We do not come into this world with knowledge of the existence of God. Nor do we understand how to render unto Him the things that are His. Nor are we born with a desire to do so. Nor are we born into families whose life’s goal is to provide us with such knowledge. At best, we are introduced to them by “sinners saved by grace” whose beliefs are based on Satan’s perverted gospel put forth by hundreds of religious groups, each of which proclaims to be “the church” and whose man-concocted doctrines comprise the various versions of “the gospel.”

As the Lord tells us in Romans 1, the reality of God is manifested to man by that which He has created, which He tells us about in the beginning of His Holy Bible. In keeping with His pattern for obtaining knowledge, in order to learn about Him, His will/Word/Truth we need to return to the beginning. This is true when learning how to qualify for salvation which requires us to render unto Him everything that is rightfully His. Let us therefore begin where all words and acts begin–in the mind, also called the “heart” Biblically. In Proverbs 23:7 we are told that: “As a man thinks in his heart, so he is.” God is telling us how important our thoughts are, saying that WE ARE WHAT WE THINK ABOUT. Thoughts are spiritual; our thoughts shape our words and acts. Our words and acts become WHAT WE ARE IN GOD’S EYES. What we spend the most time thinking about eventually forms what we become. In the physical realm, we find that people who are successful in a particular arena have spent large segments of time thinking about operating in that arena. Then they acted out and spoke about what they had been thinking about. After much thought on the subject, those thoughts were manifested into physical reality through words and actions. For the top people in the various thought arenas–the Henry Fords, George Pattons, Alexander Graham Bells, Elvis Presleys, etc.–many hours of thought preceded their success.

Such is the case in the spiritual realm, the only realm that actually matters. God “speaks” to man through His Holy Spirit. Man decides whether to hear His voice, and if so, whether to respond. Most within the human species respond positively, meaning that they acknowledge that there is a “force” or “being” that is greater than themselves. We find people acknowledging such “forces” or “beings” as fire, rock formations, serpents, the sun, moon, planets, star formations, animals, etc. Even Communists, who claim to be atheists, worship a god. Their god is the state. Their love is directed toward the state. Their total allegiance is to the state.

Human beings have Spirit-inspired thoughts relative to God. Satan cannot prevent man from being spiritual. He does, however, have the power to focus man’s spiritual thoughts in the wrong direction. Once headed in his direction, man  becomes religious. See Bait and Switch. In the spiritual realm Satan leads religious man inwardly, toward self-direction and self-exaltation. The hundreds of religious organizations that make up “religion” offer man a wide variety of religious doctrines and practices. Man chooses the one that best matches his religious desires. One woman, when explaining why she joined a certain “Christian” denomination, proclaimed: “They do what I like to do.” So says professing Christendom. What she liked to do was what she thought about, then talked about and acted on. She became (liked to do) what she thought about doing.

Those who truly seek to know the Biblical God have set their hearts on doing what He wants them to do–be holy. Therefore they follow the directions of the Apostle Paul who said in Philippians 4:7,8 that to please God we must think on things that are just, pure, lovely and of a good report. We are then to do and talk about those things that we think about. Let us do so without fail. For holy people think about holy things, talk about holy things and do holy things. Holiness, in turn, is manifested in them, causing them to speak and act in holy ways. This is the true holiness required by the Lord. May we meet His requirements, and in so doing, “Render unto God the things are God’s.” All we know about Jesus Christ is what He said and did. By studying what He said and did we know what He was and continues to be. Let us follow His example (1 Jn. 2:6). L.J.