Bible Text: John 17:3 | Speaker: Darlene Sala | Series: Encouraging Words | Larry Crabb, author and psychologist, tells of the day in the hospital when the doctor told him they had found a mass the size of a tennis ball near his stomach. The doctors were pretty certain it was malignant.

That night after everyone left, he got out of bed and walked to the window, where he saw a Starbucks across from the hospital. He imagined a Christian married couple there sipping a nightcap of decaf lattes and splitting a lemon bar before they drove home, snuggled together, and then got up early the next morning for church. He remembers thinking, “They have the abundant life; I have cancer. It’s not fair.”

That evening God spoke to his heart about how out of touch he had been with his desire for God. “I was more aware of my desires for health and good times,” he said. “That night the cobwebs cleared, and my eyes focused. I realized that I wanted God more than anything or anyone else, with my whole being… That night I experienced the presence of God. What more—or less—could I want?”

We think we’re closest to God when everything is going well—that smooth sailing in our lives is a sign of God’s blessing. Yes, we’re thankful for God’s blessings—but what are His blessings? Health? Good times? Enough money to buy what we want? Perhaps we have lost sight of the fact that, as Larry Crabb discovered, the greatest blessing is knowing God. Larry says, “Every hard thing we endure can put us in touch with our desire for God, and every trial can strengthen that desire until it becomes the consuming passion of our life. Then comes the experience of God… it’s the source of our deepest joy, the real point of living.”*

Jesus Himself said, “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3). Beyond anything else, that’s truly the greatest blessing of our lives.

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* Larry Crabb, “When Life Begins” (Spirit of Revival magazine published by Life Action Ministries, Buchanan, MI, Volume 36, Number 1), 4-6.