Knowing God Personally...No, I'm not kidding! by Joshua

Knowing God Personally...No, I'm not kidding! by Joshua - July 2017 Scholarship Essay

If I had to give a TEDx talk, then it would be on the subject of knowing God personally. God is a broad term, so I will discuss how to know the Baptist Christian God personally.

What’s the point, though? No one is asking, “Hey, can you tell me about the Baptist, Christian God? *snorts*’. I may be mistaken, but if my audience is high school/collegiate students, far and few people will want to sit on a 30-45 minute lecture about a God they did not even want to meet in the first place. I concede to this point.

With this in mind, I want to ask if anyone has realized that life can stink. When I mean stink, I mean sucks. When I mean sucks, I mean the worst adjective you can look up in your standardized test’s vocabulary section. If anyone can relate that life is terrible at times, then those people should continue reading as to why my TEDx talk would be relevant.

I believe knowing the Baptist Christian God personally gives a person an unshakable purpose and hope. Now, I am not promising a perfect life, and the God I am advocating promises the exact opposite; Jesus said “In this world, you will have trouble…” (Zondervan, 2016). What is promised is when Jesus says “But take heart. For I have overcome the world” (Zondervan, 2016)*. Jesus promises hope in spite of distress. Jesus also says that He came to give people life and to have life abundantly**. Jesus is not contradicting Himself in saying life will be full of shiny mansions and superhuman butlers for those who want to know Him purposely; He is promising a life of purpose despite hopelessness.

These are just two reasons I will touch on during my TEDx talk, but the third would be even more important, and that is to know God personally is to realize that life is not about us. Life is about knowing God, loving others, and fighting “evil” like injustice, abuse, violence, deceit, duplicity, and so forth. This can be done in many different ways, and that is why God does not have a “one-size-fits-all” plan for everyone’s life. The Baptist Christian God is said to have plans for each person individually, and everyone’s end goal of their plans is to love God, others, and fight evil***. How cool is that!

So, how does one know God personally? I would go through four principles that define how to know God personally. After the fourth principle, I would give the audience some time to reflect on life without the Baptist Christian God and life with the Baptist Christian God. My intentions with the TEDx talk are to hopefully have someone leave the discussion and want to know God personally.

The Baptist Christian God, or God for short, has changed my life to make it about God, others, and even taking care of myself for purposes and hopes greater than myself. This relationship with God does not mean my hope and purpose is impervious to depression and distress. I constantly lose my sight of the hope and purpose found in my relationship with God. Nevertheless, my relationship with God is never broken, and the hope and purpose are still there and can carry me through those dark times. I hope whoever is reading this can understand why I think its important to know God personally, and I hope they would think this TEDx talk would be awesome.

*John 16:33
**John 10:10
***Ephesians 1