November 23rd, 2020
Text: John 14:9
Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? (NRSV)
I remember dating back in high school. One would see a girl or a guy that you thought was interesting as you watched from a distance. You might think to yourself, “You know, I really think we would hit it off.” At that point, you might engage the other person in a conversation. Invite them to a group event with other friends. Start to get to know them.
Most of the time, these relationships never really blossomed into anything more than a deep friendship or, perhaps, you discovered that you really didn’t like the person at all once you really got to know them.
But, for many of us, we eventually found our “soulmates”, the person with whom we connected on a thought-heart-spirit level. Someone, the more we knew them, the more we knew we could not live without them.
Jesus invites us into that kind of a relationship. Jesus does not want us to just know him on a casual level. Jesus does not want us to just learn facts about his life. Jesus wants us to know him so well that we connect with him on a thought-heart-spirit level. Jesus wants us to be soulmates.
When we are soulmates with Jesus, we will no longer need to ask him to “show us the Father?”, because we will know that we have seen God in the person of Jesus. We will know the love God has for us as expressed in the Son. We will know the concern that God has for us when we receive the gift of life Jesus offers us. We will know the compassion Jesus has for us as he walks with us even on our worst days.
Jesus does not want to be your friend; Jesus wants to be your soulmate. And that can only happen when you connect with Jesus on such a personal level that you know his thoughts, his heart, and his spirt.
Pray with me:
Jesus, teach me who you are. Help me to move passed the facts about your life and into the intimacy that is found in a deep relationship with you. Give me the longing to spend time with you in each and every moment of my life that I might know your thoughts, your heart, and your spirit. AMEN.
Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? (NRSV)
I remember dating back in high school. One would see a girl or a guy that you thought was interesting as you watched from a distance. You might think to yourself, “You know, I really think we would hit it off.” At that point, you might engage the other person in a conversation. Invite them to a group event with other friends. Start to get to know them.
Most of the time, these relationships never really blossomed into anything more than a deep friendship or, perhaps, you discovered that you really didn’t like the person at all once you really got to know them.
But, for many of us, we eventually found our “soulmates”, the person with whom we connected on a thought-heart-spirit level. Someone, the more we knew them, the more we knew we could not live without them.
Jesus invites us into that kind of a relationship. Jesus does not want us to just know him on a casual level. Jesus does not want us to just learn facts about his life. Jesus wants us to know him so well that we connect with him on a thought-heart-spirit level. Jesus wants us to be soulmates.
When we are soulmates with Jesus, we will no longer need to ask him to “show us the Father?”, because we will know that we have seen God in the person of Jesus. We will know the love God has for us as expressed in the Son. We will know the concern that God has for us when we receive the gift of life Jesus offers us. We will know the compassion Jesus has for us as he walks with us even on our worst days.
Jesus does not want to be your friend; Jesus wants to be your soulmate. And that can only happen when you connect with Jesus on such a personal level that you know his thoughts, his heart, and his spirt.
Pray with me:
Jesus, teach me who you are. Help me to move passed the facts about your life and into the intimacy that is found in a deep relationship with you. Give me the longing to spend time with you in each and every moment of my life that I might know your thoughts, your heart, and your spirit. AMEN.
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