Knowing God is Not a Means; It is the End

I've never been a great sleeper.  Most nights I wake up in the middle of the nights and struggle to get back to sleep.  Some nights, when this happens, I leave the bed and turn on the television to wind down or decompress.  Without fail there will be some evangelist or preacher selling tickets for God, promoting their brand of Christianity.

Generally speaking, this devolves into some sort of prosperity gospel, in which faith in God is equated to putting coinage into a vending machine.  This conception, to be sure, is a wrong one for a number of reasons, not the least of which being that it betrays the example and teachings of Jesus Himself.  And although this may seem an extreme thought, there is a much more subtle one that has crept into sound Christians too, namely, that knowing God is a means to a desired end.

Read that again: the misconception that knowing God is a means to a desired end.  This is such a common sentiment that perhaps it demands further articulation.  So let me try again: a relationship with God through faith is not the means to salvation and heaven.  

Hopefully the image is becoming more clear.  The fog is lifting.  How many of us, either purposely or latently, actually think this way?  Whether we know it or not, this misconception renders God as something less than God, as if He was merely a step unto that greater goal.  This is, quite bluntly, wrong.

Instead, God is the end.  A relationship with God firmly founded upon His Son Christ rendered in covenant through faith is the end that God has in mind.  To think that there is any perceived desire  greater than being in relationship to the Lord Almighty would be tantamount to outright idolatry. For in thinking as such we would be making that other thing mean more to us in our hearts than God Himself.

Even to think of heaven as the end that God has in mind would be a dangerous misconception.  Heaven, the divine place where we live in utter bliss in our perfect spirit bodies, is rendered worthless if not for the presence of God.  This presence is not some abstract, distant acknowledgement either; it is a deeply intimate relationship between God and mankind, as was always intended.

Because of this and more, we should be on guard against any theological or philosophical postulation that would consider God as but a means to a greater, more desirable end.  For God is our greatest desire and to be in intimate relationship with Him is the greatest joy for the human.  Let us never forget this!