In 3:21 John says, “Beloved, if our heart does not blame us, we have boldness toward God.” The Greek word rendered “boldness” is parresia, meaning boldness of speech, confidence. We have such boldness in tranquility to contact God, to fellowship with Him, and to ask of Him, because there is no condemnation of the conscience in our heart. This preserves us in abiding in the Lord.
Christians often talk about knowing God. However, their concept is that of objective knowledge of a God who is great and almighty. But here the apostle John does not teach us to know God in that kind of objective way. On the contrary, John’s word here is about knowing God in a very subjective way. Some may speak about the almighty God who rules the universe, but here John speaks concerning the God who is in our heart. He does not talk about the mighty God, about the great God; instead he speaks concerning the practical God. Not only is God infinite, unlimited, and beyond our ability to comprehend; He is also small enough to be in our heart. When God becomes our experience, He is not only the One on the throne who is universally vast, but He is the One in our heart.
Some have said, “How is it possible for Christ to be in you? Christ is great, and you are small. How could you contain such a great Christ?” This kind of talk comes from the fallen human mentality. According to the teaching of the New Testament, we need to know God in the personal realm of our heart. God is known by us not in the vastness of the universe, but in the smallness of our heart.
Where do you know God? To say that you know God in the universe is to speak in a religious way. I certainly believe that God is great and almighty. But here I am burdened to point out that the concern of the New Testament is that we know the God who has come into our being, the One who dwells in our spirit and desires to spread into all the inward parts of our heart. Therefore, we need to know God in our heart.
In 3:20 John does not say that God is greater than the universe. Here John says that God is greater than our heart. This way of writing indicates that our knowledge of God must be experiential. Knowing God is a matter not of the universe but of our heart. Is your heart at peace? Is your heart tranquil? This is related to your knowing God. Some may say that they know God. But they may know Him in a religious way, in an objective way. We need to know God in our heart, in our conscience. To know God in this way is for the great, almighty, infinite God to become practical to us in our conscience. If our conscience bothers us, this means that God also has a problem with us.
I can testify that from experience I have learned to know God in my conscience. Often in my Christian life I have wondered why God cares for all the details in my daily life. For example, I know that He would bother me if I were to show a “long face” toward my wife. If I give my wife a “long face,” He will trouble me in my conscience. If I argue with Him about matters like this, the God who is in my conscience will not agree with me. This is an example of the experiential way to know God.
In being known by us experientially, God is small, not infinite. A brother may argue with God; he may think that it is not right for Him to trouble his conscience regarding a certain matter. Suppose the brother says to Him, “Why does my conscience bother me concerning my wife? She is wrong, and I am right. She caused the problem, and I have been trying to avoid an argument. But she is trying to force me to say something. Why, then, does my conscience bother me about the way I feel? This isn’t fair!” But no matter how much the brother may argue with Him, God will not rule in his favor. Rather, He will agree with the brother’s conscience in condemning him.
If we are honest, we shall admit that sometimes we are stubborn with God. We may not be stubborn with our husband or wife or with the saints, but we may be stubborn with God. A certain brother may be kind and gentle; nevertheless, at times even such a brother may be stubborn with God. He may be subdued by his wife, but he may not be easily subdued by God. He may go for a period of time without being willing to be subdued by God regarding a particular matter. I believe that we all can testify of having been stubborn with God in this way.
The reason we have been stubborn is that we were arguing with God about something. We may have thought that we were right and that the other party was wrong, and that for this reason our conscience should not trouble us. We may have questioned why our conscience, the representative of God’s government within us, would keep troubling us about that matter. Therefore, for a period of time we were stubborn with God.
I use this as an illustration of the fact that the New Testament way for us to know God is personal, detailed, and experiential. The New Testament way is to know God as the One who is in our heart. How precious is this experiential way of knowing God!
Sometimes we may wonder why God, who has billions of matters to take care of, would be concerned with a small detail in our daily living. Although God is infinite and almighty, He cares even for the small things in our life. For example, He may care about a brother’s inward attitude toward his wife, something so small that it may seem it takes a divine magnifying glass to see it. Nevertheless, God cares for such a matter. We know God cares for such things because our conscience bothers us concerning them. Whenever our conscience is not tranquil, we know that we need to take care of the feeling of our conscience, which is the representative of the divine government. In this way we know God not in great matters but in small things. This way of knowing God is experiential and practical.