Personal Relationship or President of the Fan Club?

Several years ago, my teenage daughters came home from youth group upset that someone was trying to teach their youth group that it wasn't possible to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  This person had said that they could have a personal relationship with their parents, their teachers, their friends, but not with Jesus!  Of course, my reaction was "WHAT?!  Are you serious?!"   My daughters were upset because they were concerned that their friends might buy into this fallacy, and that someone in authority was trying to teach it.

After I calmed down, I told them that they could explain it to their friends by painting a word picture.  This is the picture I painted for them:

Let's say I know everything there is to know about Sandra Bullock.  I like to talk like her, dress like her, eat what she eats, watch her movies, listen to the music she likes, read the books she reads, . . . you get the picture.  I even go so far as to start a club where others can join me in all things Sandra Bullock.  I may even meet her personal assistant and hang out with her sometimes.  Since I'm such a big fan, I help out with some of the mass marketing of Sandra Bullock.  I do everything I can to promote Sandra Bullock movies.  I am what you would call a groupie.  I am her biggest fan!

But, if in the middle of the day or the dead of night, I were to drive up to Sandra Bullock's house and ring her doorbell,  do you think she would let me in her house?  No.  Why not?  Because I don't have a personal relationship with her.  Sure, I know everything there is to know about her.  I proclaim to love everything about her.  I've even promoted her movies.  But, she doesn't know me.  She's never met me before.  She doesn't know my name, or anything else about me.  

However, if my friend, Sandra Bullock's personal assistant, has introduced me to her and I've been able to spend time with Sandra Bullock and we've gotten to know each other, then we have developed a personal relationship.  She would let me in her home at anytime of the day or night.  She would care about me and call me her friend.  She would trust me, and I would trust her.  We would have each other's best interest in mind.

That's the way it is with my best friend, Jesus Christ.  He knows me and I know Him.  I know His voice when He calls my name.  He knows my voice when I call out to Him.  We spend time together, and He always has my best interest in mind.  He has a vested interest in my life and has the right to speak into it; hold me accountable, even to discipline me (that means to teach me the right way to go).  He loves me unconditionally.  He promises never to leave me nor forsake me.  He tells me that if I will delight myself in Him, He will give me every desire of my heart.  

"I am the Good Shepherd.  

I know my sheep and my sheep know me - 

just as the Father knows me and I know the Father -

and I lay down my life for the sheep."  John 10:8