Knowing Jesus
Even though many of us have walked with Jesus for most of our lives, we may not know Him as thoroughly as might be expected. We study the Bible; we go to church; we have good example from senior saints. Still we are slow to grasp the loving power, the Presence, the guidance in our lives. We do not always see him in the hungry child, the hurting teen, or the lonely widow, in the disabled, the prisoner, or the blind.
We are not alone in the slowness to grasp the radiant “is-ness” or warm reality of his love, the plan and purpose of his sacrifice, and the nature of God’s agape love.
Those on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24) did not recognize the resurrected Jesus at first either. Something about the way He broke bread, allowing each to take his own portion, caused them to be aware of the presence of their Lord. If we, as the body of Christ, are “broken” for fellowship, then we learn to get along with each other. If we choose our degree of service and our growth in that service, our progress and success relies on the love of Jesus and the enabling power of the Holy Spirit. Such awareness opens our eyes to the freedom and discipline in the Savior’s manner…and
the power of His loving guidance. We grow in our ability to know Him.
The disciples, perhaps the closest to Jesus of all, did not always understand his purpose, his mission, or his way. Even after all the contact, the resurrected Jesus is still the stranger on the shore in John 21–until the gentle authority of his words and the bounty of the catch cause John to know that the stranger wanting fish is their precious Lord and Savior. Sharing the bread and fish in His characteristic way again assured these slow of understanding that they were in the presence of the Lord. “Feeding the sheep” with faith and loving service will allow them all to grow in the ability to know and love the Lord.
…..Mary-Ellen Grisham (meginrose@gmail.com) (eternal_ink@associate.com) by way of “Christian Voices” (www.ChristianVoicesWorldwide.net)
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