Do I know you?
- Details
- Published: Wednesday, 23 March 2016 02:47
- Written by James Dean
Let me tell you about Mark. Mark lives in Palo Alto (that's in California) and he's married to Priscilla. They've recently had a baby daughter called Max. His pet dog is called Beast and is a white Hungarian sheepdog that looks like a fluffy mop! He spends a lot of time with computers but also plenty of time with his family.
How many people do you know?
I mean *really* know?
My Facebook profile tells me that I have 576 friends but how well do I know each one of them? I know each one of them well enough to tell you their name, how I know them, perhaps who they're married to, what their kids' names are. But that's just what I know *about* them. You could probably pick up much the same information just by looking at their Facebook profile, just like I did with Mark Zuckerberg above. But that doesn't mean you have a deep friendship with them.
Of nearly 600 people there are perhaps just a handful that I *really know*. Knowing someone properly takes time, effort, care and a desire to put their needs above your own. That depth of relationship isn't something you can keep up with 600 people, perhaps just a dozen or so.
How well do you know God?
I mean *really* know him?
God doesn't need to use Facebook; he has given us everything we need to know him more deeply than we know any other human being, in his word, the Bible. There we see the almighty God of creation; of utter holiness; of purest love; of righteous anger; of total power; of undeserved forgiveness; of boundless grace. We see God embodied in the person of Jesus Christ - Immanuel, God with us. On those pages there is nothing of his character hidden from our gaze, if we just take the time to read it.
So let me ask just one more question: how are you working to improve your relationship with the God who saved you and wants you to know him?
"Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you."
- James 4:8a
