Reflection

On May 21, 2018   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Hebrews 1: 3

And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

Do you find this verse big and full? I do. We could meditate all day solely on Jesus being the radiance of God’s glory. That statement fills the mind with wonder. We are also, perhaps, intrigued by the statement about Jesus being seated at the right hand of God in that we know David prophesied this very thing a thousand years before it happened. Then there is this amazing statement that Jesus upholds all things by the word of God’s power. Ruminate on that for awhile. As if all of that is not enough to occupy our thoughts, here is a most intriguing thought. Jesus the exact reflection of who God is at the most basic level. I want to talk about that piece of this verse because I think it is a very important concept.

I mentioned, last week, that it is not uncommon for Christians to have a good relationship with Jesus but almost no relationship with Yahweh, our Father. That seems odd, doesn’t it? We read a Bible which is about God but our personal touch with the trinity sometimes does not reach beyond Jesus. I think the reason this is the case is because we have a better sense of who Jesus is. We feel we know him better because the gospels give us insight into his ways.

Take heart, you actually know God better than you think you do because Jesus is the exact reflection of God. All of the traits we appreciate about Jesus he got from his Father. Jesus’ compassion is a God thing. God is gentle and kind. So, if we want to see God, all we have to do is look at Jesus. Jesus said it this way, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father, how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (John 14: 9). If you have seen Jesus, you have seen the Father. If you love Jesus, you ought to also love his Father.

I hope this brings you comfort today and encourages you to seek the Father more urgently. If you seek Him, you will find Him and, you will like what you find.

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Getting to Know You

On October 14, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 14: 9

Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me?

Philip was one of Jesus’ hand-picked apostles. He was on the executive council, if you will, of Jesus’ ministry. He walked, talked and lived with Jesus everyday for three years. They ate together, traveled together and ministered together. One would think that anyone in that position would know Jesus pretty well. None the less, Jesus accused Philip of not knowing him at all. Jesus sounds pretty astonished that they spent so much time together and yet Philip still did not have a revelation of who Jesus was.

Of course, my reaction is if Philip walked daily with Jesus while Jesus was in the flesh, on the planet and didn’t really know him then what chance do I have? The truth is, many of us call ourselves Christians or followers of Christ and yet do not know him very well at all. It should be our goal, though, to become intimately familiar with him. We can do that, you know. Jesus is still very much alive and although he is not here in the flesh he still talks with his people every day.

In many ways we have even more of him now than the apostles did. He has now made our hearts, your heart, his temple. We can, and many do, have daily fellowship with him. Reading Jesus’ words to Philip makes me cringe. I sure don’t want Jesus to say those words to me or worst yet the words he spoke in Matthew 7: 21 – 22: “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness”.

So what is the point? The point is that we, like Philip, can hang out in all the right places, partake of all the right feasts and rituals and yet come to the end and find that we don’t know Jesus and he doesn’t know us. So how do you get to know Him? Well, John 1: 1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” So we start with the Word, but you knew I was going to say that didn’t you?  Next, jump over to Joshua 1, verse 8 and see the advice God gave Joshua: “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.” So, step 2 is to meditate on what you read from the Bible or ponder it, we might say. This really isn’t an intellectual exercise although it may sound like it. We aren’t analyzing, cogitating or thinking about what we have read. It is more like mulling it over, rolling it around inside of you for its deep meaning. Through this process, revelation arises.

And then we should have the word in our mouths. That’s what God said. We speak as he speaks. We keep His words in the forefront of our thoughts and in our heart. Lastly, pray but when I say pray I really mean spend time seeking Jesus. Talk to him as you would a dear friend. Take him with you everywhere you go. Spend the day talking with him and listening to his responses. The more you hear him, the more you will get to know him. Seek him, that is the real key. If you seek him, you will find him. I promise.

The greatest reward of Christianity is getting to know Jesus, the Father and the Holy Spirit. They can become your closest friends if you like and it is nice to know they are always there with you. Don’t get caught out in the cold. Get to know Jesus.

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