Many know God only through hearsay

I was reading my renewed day by day devotional byAW Tozer and this is what he said for today:

"Do you realize that there are many, many in the churches of our day who talk some of the Christian language but who know God only by hearsay? Most of them have read some book about God. They have seen some reflection of the light of God. They may have heard some faint echo of the voice of God, but their own personal knowledge of God is very slight. Many Christians are staking their reputations on church attendance, religious activity, social fellowship, sessions of singing—because in all of these things they are able to lean upon one another. They spend a lot of time serving as religious props for one another in Christian circles! Let us look at the example of Jesus. When He was here upon earth, the record shows that He had work to do and He also knew the necessity for activity as He preached and healed, taught and answered questions and blessed the people. He also knew the fellowship of His brethren, those who followed Him and loved Him. But those were the incidental things in Jesus’ life compared to His fellowship with and personal knowledge of the Father. When Jesus went into the mountain to pray and to wait on God all night, He was not alone, for He knew the conscious presence of the Father with Him!"

I share this because I think his words echo into today's church and "normal Christian" experience. As the church our desire should be to know God, not simply be content to know about Him. May we all be challenged by his words today!