He who has seen Me has seen the Father

I have always loved sunsets and sunrises. Perhaps the most spectacular sunset I have seen was in Toronto years ago. I came out of a meeting in winter, and it hit me. The whole sky was literally filled with shades of pinks and reds and purples. It took my breath away, and I stood there just drinking it in. As I looked in awe, a man came out the same door, glanced casually up at the sky, shrugged and went on. I had seen the sun set, really seen the sun set, he had seen the sun set, but without really seeing it! How could he ignore such beauty, and how can we?

The point is, we can see and not perceive, we can hear and not understand (Isaiah 6:9). It’s the same with Jesus, and I was asking myself this morning have I really seen him, have I really heard him, have I really understood? I will been a Christian for 45 years this coming fall, and it’s easy for it all to become oh so familiar, so ho-hum!

I’ve had this experience several times over the last few days, I asked the Lord to give me a verse, and when he did my initial reaction was “Lord, how is this going to apply to my life?” Each time, my initial impression was that I’d heard it all before, and that there was nothing new here!

It’s not that there’s not a lot in this verse. For example, I encounter people over and over again who think that Jesus is all right, but you had better watch out for the Father! Jesus is saying if you want to know what God the Father is like just look at my character. So I asked myself "Do I really see the character of Jesus, I mean really see Him in all His beauty and fullness?" I felt I was being invited to take a fresh look!

He is amazing, so full of grace and truth. We we get it wrong over and over. We have love without truth, and it becomes license. We have truth without love, and it becomes an obnoxious self-righteousness! That Jesus has an amazing balance in these things can be seen, for example, in John 8. It is here that He speaks tenderly to the woman caught in the very act of adultery. He tells her He does not condemn her, but neither does He condone her destructive behaviour. He says "Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more!" Because of Jesus there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1)!

Perhaps Jesus is the only preacher who ever practice what he preached. He tells us to love our enemies, and as they pierced his hands and feet with cruel spikes, he says "Father forgive them for they do not know what they do!” Paul tells us that while we were God the Father's enemies Christ Jesus died for our sins (Romans 5:8). Such love! I am not there yet, but I want to be! He is my hero!

Father, help me in those times when I’ve think I’ve heard it all before, open my eyes anew, and help me to see Jesus with new eyes in all his glory, and in all his beauty. I’m not like him Lord, but I want to be. Thank you for your promise that you are changing me from one degree of glory to another. It’s slow work, thank you for your patience in Jesus name Amen