There are those who know us and then there are those who know about us. How much knowledge someone has about us is not the same as being intimately acquainted with us. 

Benefits of Being Known

Knowing about someone is easy whereas actually knowing someone is hard. If I want to know about someone, all I have to do is ask others about them. Granted, I will get a perspective slightly skewed by the other person’s opinion, but I will get a few facts. 

Actually, knowing someone is done only by first hand experiences, personal encounters and time spent in each other’s company. Being known by someone else happens over time, and with the mutual exchange of trust. We don’t become intimately acquainted with anyone we don’t trust.

When someone knows us, we experience a sense of acceptance, peace, and comfort in their presence. We aren’t afraid that they will hurt us, physically or emotionally, nor do we need to worry about impressing them because they already like us. 

Those who know us know our weaknesses, sorrows, joys, dreams and yearnings. They recognize our soft spots and are aware of the history of our hurts. They can discern when we need words of wisdom or simply a listening ear. Being known is quite a wonderful phenomenon. 

There are a few people who know me, not just about me. Our lives segued into one another’s lives at different junctures. Attending church, raising children, participating in Bible studies, work, and writing are some of the links that connect me to those who know me. Though our connections bring us together, they do not guarantee becoming known. Knowing each other takes time, mutual trust and personal encounters. 

But, there is Someone who has known us long before we were even born; God our Creator. Our lives are linked to God because we were formed by him.

Before my mother felt the presence of yet another child in her womb, my parts were already being knit together by God. Before either of my parents held me in their arms, God already saw me. Before my parents spoke my name out loud, I was already fully known by God. Marvelous, wondrous and complex is God’s workmanship; creating each of us. 

Why bother knowing we are known? We are already known by God and now he waits to be known by us.