“The greatest joy is knowing God.” This truth greets me every morning on the back porch as I sit on my swing awaiting my dog to return from her morning toddle around the yard. It is engraved in a simple flower pot that a dear friend gave me years ago, which occasionally even has a flower in it, thanks to my loving husband.

Most of us have at best a mere taste of this “greatest joy”. This ultimate joy is not in knowing about God – God is the Big Man in the sky, the one to whom many pay homage on Sundays. It is not in knowing who God is – God is the Almighty, the King, made known to man in the flesh of Jesus Christ. This utmost joy is not even in knowing God’s many attributes – such as love, patience, graciousness, faithfulness, justice and mercy.

No, these ways of knowing are merely academic. Most people with the ability to learn can be taught about God, who He is and what He is like. Just like a math course, knowledge of God at a certain level can be obtained through scholarly study of the curriculum. God’s curriculum is, of course, His Word. But these types of knowledge do not bring the greatest joy.

The maximum joy that we can experience is “knowing”, not knowledge. I know a lot about Erwin McManus these days. He is one of my new favorite authors. His full name is Erwin Raphael McManus and he pastors the Mosaic Church in Los Angeles, California. According to the Wide Awake book jacket, he is an author, speaker, activist, filmmaker and innovator originally from El Salvador. He’s married to Kim. They have two children and a foster daughter. And that’s just a snippet.

From reading his book, I can tell he is all about dreaming and pursuing God-sized dreams. He admits to getting bored easily, having trouble completing things, and losing focus on the finish line. (Does this give you a clue why I might relate so well to him?) He is easily distracted and probably ADHD. (By the way, there is often a direct correlation between ADHD and intellectual giftedness.) Ironically, he has completed more things in half a lifetime than most men in a full one. Most importantly, he loves the one true God in all of His three persons.

I know a lot about Erwin. But I don’t know him from Adam. I only dream of the someday when I will meet him, fellowship with him, and collaborate with him. (How’s that for being an optimist!) Only then can I truly say I know him on some level.

“The greatest joy is knowing God.” Jesus said to His Father, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). We often think of eternal life as simply "forever life". But it is so much more! It is forever joy, a joy that comes from knowing God! And it begins on the day we believe.

Jesus said, “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, (the ability to know God, the greatest joy!), and I Myself will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:40). This belief happens now, on earth, while we are yet in the flesh. And God’s promise is that with belief comes eternal life, a forever life of knowing God not just knowing about Him.

Have you truly believed? If so, have you truly embraced this great promise of God – the opportunity to know Him intimately, not just intellectually? This never ending, supernatural fellowship with God is indeed the greatest joy!

I read the NASB (New American Standard Bible). Why? Because a very important youth pastor gave me a copy of it when I first came to understand the reality of Jesus and what he did for me. It was actually this pastor's own Bible. He’d probably be happy to know that it has gone to good use. I ought to look him up!

The pages are written on and falling out so much so that I decided it was time to get a new Bible to take with me to church. I feared every week some loose pages would go flying down to the floor, slide under the pews out of my reach, never to be seen again. So recently I purchased a new Key Word Study Bible. What version? The NASB of course!

But that is not the only Bible I own, nor read. Actually, these past few years of Bible teaching have led me to realize the importance of studying the Bible from several translations, as its meaning is expanded significantly. There are many free websites that allow you to look at several versions of scripture at once. http://www.studylight.org and http://www.blueletterbible.org are two that I use.

Yesterday I ran across the verse 2 Corinthians 7:1 written in the New International Version. Since the NIV is not the version I read on a daily basis, the wording brought the message into a whole new light for me. Here it is:

“Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”

“Contaminates” got my attention. Did it you? What contaminates me? Contaminate by definition means to make impure, dirty, or unfit for use. Contamination is pollution.

Our neighbors on both sides have a pool. They do a great job of keeping their pools free from pollution and contaminates. They are able to enjoy them because they stay clean, fresh and fit for use.

My life is like those pools. I have to keep it free from unwanted things and ready for use. This verse reminded me to take a moment to examine the pool of my life. What’s in there, and what do I need to clean out so my life is fresher, more useful and more enjoyable?

Just like caring for a pool, caring for my body and spirit takes time and effort. But the refreshment that comes from enjoying a contaminate-free life is worth the effort!

The view from my grandmother’s swing, now hanging on my back porch, isn’t particularly interesting, unless you look up. As I sat for just a moment today on that broken, paint-chipped swing, I began to relax as memories flooded my mind. I remembered sitting on that same swing as a young child after dinner, on my grandmother’s front porch in the small town of Gatesville, Texas, watching the cars go by. My how life has changed since then! We scarcely have time to enjoy a meal with our families, much less sit on a porch swing with them for hours afterward.

But as I looked out across the yard, there were no cars to consider, no people to ponder, and no one nearby with whom to discuss them had there been any. Instead I saw the many leaves that had fallen, reminding me of work that needed doing, and beyond that, the neighbors’ backyards. So my eyes turned upward in avoidance. What beauty awaited my simple glance! The tree limbs above were wound together like vines rising all the way to heaven. And each one was covered with brilliant fall foliage. Even in Texas we eventually get a taste of autumn’s debut.

Immediately I felt the gentle breeze and began to worship the Creator of it all. And in that moment, He reminded me of another beauty – the beauty of perspective. Instead of looking at the mountains of leaves past their peak requiring hours of effort, He wanted me to look at the splendor of their array overhead. How often I miss life looking down instead of up!

God created man to look up, not down. Animals look down, but man was meant to walk uprightly and look toward the heavens (Eccl 3:21). Our soul, too, was meant to ascend. Because of Jesus, our soul has the opportunity to be redeemed, to be raised up even now from living an earthly life dead in sin to a new life alive in Christ through the power of His Spirit. In Colossians 3:1-2, Paul says “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.”

God had to remind me of this today in the leaves of my backyard. It’s natural for us to set our minds on the earth, to look at the world and all its work, difficulties, and death piled up all around. But beauty and joy are in abundance if we will only turn our perspective heavenward! Jesus isn’t dead in the earth; He’s very much alive today, seated above in all His glory and splendor. In the midst of our stress and struggles, our fears and foes, Jesus longs for us to look up to Him for our help and hope. He longs for us to live life focused on Him, His purposes and His promises. But we can only do this with His perspective. Don’t miss the life He has for you by looking down. Look up! Jesus is still there on the throne! Hallelujah!