Years ago, there was a television game show that I used to watch called “The Newly Wed Game”. Four couples were asked questions while their new spouses were off stage, their answers were written on cards and then the spouses were brought out and asked the same question. If the answers matched, they got points and the ones with the most points won. Simple premise, simple game but some of the answers were hilarious and the couples, interaction wasn’t always congenial.
The point was, and is, it takes time to get to know someone. That’s how it is in our relationship with Christ.
You might not know this about me but one of my favorite subjects in school was English. I particularly liked sentence structure, the development of ideas, and I excelled at diagraming sentences. This is particularly helpful when reading some of the Apostle Paul’s letters. This morning we will look at one of those from Ephesians.
“I pray that the great God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ may give you the wisdom of His Spirit. Then you will be able to understand the secrets about Him as you know Him better. 18 I pray that your hearts will be able to understand. I pray that you will know about the hope given by God’s call. I pray that you will see how great the things are that He has promised to those who belong to Him. 19 I pray that you will know how great His power is for those who have put their trust in Him. 20 It is the same power that raised Christ from the dead. This same power put Christ at God’s right side in heaven. 21 This place was given to Christ. It is much greater than any king or leader can have. No one else can have this place of honor and power. No one in this world or in the world to come can have such honor and power. 22 God has put all things under Christ’s power and has made Him to be the head leader over all things of the church. 23 The church is the body of Christ. It is filled by Him Who fills all things everywhere with Himself.” Ephesians 1:17-23 NLV
We won’t get all of this covered this morning. I will take the next couple of days to break it all down. I have been reading and praying this prayer for myself for over 30 years now and I am still discovering greater depth of meaning.
It all starts by asking for wisdom, wisdom given to us by the Holy Spirit. Solomon says in Proverbs to gain wisdom because it’s the principal thing. Wisdom has greater value than silver or gold. With this wisdom we will be able to understand secrets about Christ and we will be able to know Him better.
There’s an intimacy implied in that word “know”. There are some people we are acquainted with, others we have a working relationship with, still with others we have a developing friendship. Then there are those who know us well, our friendships are deep and established, developed through time and experience but the one who seems to know us best is the one we live and love on a daily basis.
How well do you know Christ? How much do you want to know Him better? I encourage you to reread the verses above several times throughout the day and over the next several days. Pray and ask the Lord to help you know Him better. I can guarantee that’s a prayer He will answer.