GETTING TO KNOW THE GREAT ONE
Wayne Gretzky (“The Great One”) retired years ago, but he’s still a legend when it comes to hockey.
He holds or shares over 60 NHL records including most goals, most points and most assists. One of my favorite stats of his is “most goals for one season” – he comes in first at 92 goals (’81-’82) as well as second with 87 goals in ’83-’84 (and eighth, and tenth…)
During the 80’s you could turn on the TV and watch him play, hear commentators tell how amazing he was, you could follow his stats, collect his memorabilia and chat with your friends how great he was. In other words, you could know a lot about him…and you could celebrate a lot about him.
But…does that mean you really knew him?
It’s one thing to know about someone and entirely different to really know them, to be counted as their friend. Do you have his cell phone number? Do you get together for coffee? If I happened to be walking down the street and Gretzky passed me by, he probably wouldn’t stop and say, “Hey man, great to see you again!”
Again, it’s one thing to know and celebrate someone…it’s another thing altogether to know them deeply. The unfortunate thing is that many of us treat Jesus like we do Wayne Gretzky (or insert your favorite sports hero here). We talk a lot about Him, we go to large gatherings to celebrate Him, we hear commentators talk of His greatness, we collect His memorabilia. But do we really know Him? Personally? It’s one thing to know about Jesus…it’s another thing altogether to have a deep relationship with Him, to be an intimate friend.
It’s not enough to know His stats, it’s not enough to read of His records or to celebrate His deeds. What he wants…what he longs for…is for us to know him deeply, intimately. His deep desire is that we meet with him on a regular basis so we get to the point of knowing his voice and understanding his heart.
We’ll spend tons of money and lots of time to stand in line and see sports stars or the famous. But we bemoan the fact we have no time to spend with God.
Yet in God’s presence is fullness of joy (Ps 16:11), strength (Is 40:31) and peace (Mt 11:28). As we wait on him he’ll direct us, empower us, provide and guide us. As Robert McCheyne once said, “a calm hour with God is worth a whole lifetime with man!”
Jesus is the Greatest Ever…let’s make time to spend with him this week!
