Facts are like puzzle pieces of various sizes and shapes. Each piece has its place, and they all fit together to form a much larger picture. That picture centers on Christ, the very image of God.37
…that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col 2:2-3).
Spirit-revealed facts lead us to “know… Christ,” to grow in a real relationship with Him.38 As we trust and follow Christ, the most amazing change takes place: We become the picture of Christ! We are “being transformed into same image from one degree of glory to another” (2Cor 3:18). “I want to know Christ,” says Paul, “becoming like Him…” (Php 3:10). That is what the Christian life is all about. The truth does not merely inform us. The truth transforms us! In the next lesson we will see just how intensely dazzling that transformation is.
CHRIST IS IN YOU BECAUSE YOU LISTENED TO HIM!
NOW KEEP LISTENING, SO THAT CHRIST REMAINS IN YOU! 39
37. Heb 1:3; 2Cor 4:4; Col 1:15; Jn 14:9
38. R Knowing Christ: Jn 10:14; 14:23; 15:14; 17:3; Eph 4:13; Php 3:8-10; Col 2:2-3; 2Tim 1:12 cf. Eph 1:17; Heb 8:11; 2Pet 1:2-3; Jer 9:23-24
39. Rev 3:20; Jn 8:31; 14:21,23; 1Jn 3:24 cf. Jn 15:4-10; 2Jn 1:9