Are you fortunate to have someone in your life who really gets you? Someone who finishes your sentences? Who knows you inside and out in an intimate way?
It’s a wonderful thing if you have at least one person in your life who knows you well. It may be your mother or sister, or a dear friend; the sort of relationship where you never have to explain yourself. You jump right in with whatever you have to say and that person is on board, listening and knowing, and maybe reading between the lines.
If you long for this kind of intimacy, but others find you a mystery; could it be you’re a mystery to yourself? When you are unsure of who you are, then other people will discover the same dilemma. Self-esteem will resolve this problem, but only life-giving self-esteem rooted in Christ.
In the musical, The King and I, school teacher Anna, sings of the joys of “Getting To Know You,” a happy sentimental song she sang to children as she learned all the beautiful and new things about them. But no one wants to work that hard with adults. So it should behoove us to give everyone a helping hand so we can all get to bright and breezy. But how do you do that? The woman at the well, in John 4:5-29, is a great example of where to start.
Jesus, exhausted, came to drink at Jacob’s well, and while he was there told the Samaritan woman of a drink that would quench her thirst forever. But what blew her away was that he told her everything she’d ever done! At first you might think this a terrible thing; after all, who wants their sins known? But her astonishment turned to joy as she realized that he must be the Messiah. This realization evolved only after Jesus told her she was living with a man. She was known intimately by the God of Jacob. The men she slept with didn’t know her like that.
So the best way to be known by others is to be known intimately by God first. He will tell you all about you, and give you the wisdom of understanding yourself so you can be truly known by others. Know that he’ll read between the lines and finish your sentences. You’ll exclaim with the Samaritan woman: “Come, see a Man who told me all the things I ever did!”
Oh, the joy of being known.
“I never know what I think about something until I’ve read what I’ve written on it.” – Faulkner