Stalking Jesus

 
When I first started training for my marathon, (Oh yeah, surprise! I’m running a marathon!!) I embraced the mentality that I was doing this to get in shape, cross off a “to-do” item on my bucket list, and to put my body to the test. Of course, there are other reasons for running a marathon, like bragging rights, and the victory of saying, “I RAN A MARATHON,” on Facebook weighed more than a feather on the balance. But then one day, my motives changed….

One of my favorite authors said something I will never forget.

“I used to think I could learn about Jesus by studying Him, but now I know Jesus doesn’t want stalkers.”-Bob Goff

It was brought to my attention that I tend to stalk Jesus. I memorize verses, I gather information about His life during my Bible studies, and I talk to people about the amazing miracles He performed in His Word. And then I claim to know God because of it. Don’t get me wrong, memorizing scripture, reading the Bible and talking about Jesus are all great things to do (even necessary), but collecting information about a person is not the same as actually getting to know them.

It’s also just weird to memorize facts about someone when you don’t know them. Imagine me walking up to a stranger, knowing where they went to school, what they did for fun, and asking them how their uncle is doing after a recent fall down the stairs (assuming they do have an uncle who fell down the stairs). That stranger would be creeped out because I shouldn’t know about their uncle because we don’t hang out. But that’s what I did with Jesus. I knew where He went and what He did, but we didn’t hang out.

Memorizing facts won’t help me get closer to Jesus. If I didn’t do anything with Him, it would be like an arranged marriage. I don’t want to get to Heaven and say, “So, I’m with you?” I want to know who He is personally by hanging out with Him through prayer, scripture and action steps of faith.

My motives for running a marathon changed because I now see the minutes and hours of running as a time where I can get to know God. Instead of listening to tunes while jogging, I talk to God about the things that I care about. Being with God, talking to Him and reading scripture is how I’m going to grow in my relationship with Him. Of course, you don’t have to run a marathon to get to know God, you just have to invest time, like any other relationship. But the big difference is, He is the Creator of the universe and I fall to my knees in fear and love for Him. If He, for some reason, wants to hang out with me, then I’m in and I want to hang out with Him.


-Emily