"Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord." Hosea 6:3

The following message is to believers, it is not the way to salvation.

"To know the Lord"! That is a bold aim for this finite soul. And yet, my soul will be satisfied with nothing less. I am beating day and night against the bars of the prison-house. I am crying for the light that alone can explain the darkness. I would be content even to touch the hem of His garment as He passes by. I feel to know Him would indeed be life eternal.

But, I know it is not by searching that I will find my God; it is by following Him. This knowledge, which I seek, is not the beginning of my life, but the end of it. It comes not with the bud, but with the full-blown flower. I say to myself, "If I had a vision of God I would be good. But the Divine word answers me - "be first good, and you shall have a vision of God. It is by "following" Him that I shall learn to know Him. If I would look upon Him as He is, then I must first be like Him. God is love; He has other attributes but that is His essence - that is Himself. Love alone can behold love. The heart is the sense that sees God, and the heart is the life of love. If you will walk with Him, you shall learn to know Him. You shall reach Him by the shortest of all avenues - sympathy." George Matteson.

Now of course, this is addressed to believers, it's not a message about gaining salvation, but about deepening our faith by walking as He walked, loving the destitute and oppressed. In loving those He loves we "know" the Lord. Without following His example of loving we will have but a husk of true victory. 

   Whatever and where ever we see suffering we are to be involved in easing that suffering in any way we can. It may be merely a shoulder to cry on; it may be to help carry our neighbors load; it may be to weep with those that weep and rejoice with those that rejoice; we are to be busy aiding and relieving, we are to be light (love) in darkness. We have a command to help where we see heaviness; to brighten where we meet burdens, to comfort where we find calamities; to free where we encounter chains; to protect where we recognize poverty, to cheer where the atmosphere is chill. Matteson.