He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. John 1: 10-11 (NIV)
The Bible
tells us over and over again to have faith in the things we do not see, to have
hope in the promises that have not come to pass, but today my question to you
is, do you have faith in the things that you do see? Let me explain, if a man came
up to you right now with all the characteristics of Jesus, would you believe
Him? I doubt I would, and I feel guilty for it. Sometimes it’s easier to have
faith in the things that we do not see than believe in the things that we do
see. Jesus has always looked at us with love in His eyes but due to our
impaired vision of trust in today’s modern world we may find it difficult to
recognise the full extent of God’s glory!
I
sometimes wonder why we don’t see miracles to the extent of those in the former
days; like people being raised from the dead or others surviving the pits of
fire? You see God hasn’t changed, we’ve changed! His word hasn’t dissolved, the
world has evolved. It has evolved to the extent that every day miracles are
written off as coincidences or close calls and the power of success is as a
result of our hard work rather than His favour. If we continue
giving the works of the world credit for the goodness of God then we will keep
evolving until we don’t recognise God at all.
So how do
we recognise the work of God amongst the works of the flesh?
No man has ever seen God at any time; the
only unique Son, or the only begotten God, Who is in the bosom [in
the intimate presence] of the Father, He has declared Him [He has revealed Him
and brought Him out where He can be seen; He has interpreted Him and He has
made Him known]. John 1:18
God will ALWAYS make Jesus
known. Just as our eyes are drawn to anything light in a dark room, we need to
continuously recognise that anything good in our life or in the lives of others
is as a direct result of His grace! It is our responsibilities as “witnesses”
of Christ to not only recognise Him but to give Him recognition for every good
work.
Recognising the Holy
Spirit in Another’s Life
John's Account
Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven
as a dove and remain on him. And I
myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me,
‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize
with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.” John 1:32-24
It is
important for us to have a great intuition when it comes to recognising Christ
followers within our everyday walk of life. When we realise we are not alone we
are able to strengthen each other making the battle for salvation a whole lot
easier.
Recognising
Jesus Through an Intimate Relationship
Mary's Account
They asked her, “Woman, why are you
crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they
have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus
standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
John 20:13-14
Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried
out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). John
20:16
If you close your eyes and someone speaks, you can easily identify who is speaking. If we have a close relationship with God, we can
recognise His voice without the need of having to see Him. The better you get to know someone the easier it is to
sense their presence; from their footsteps to their laugh to their cough and
even their sneezes. Just like each of us are unique, so is God. His voice is
unique amongst all the other sounds in our head, if we spend more time being
attentive to His voice I believe we will be able to hear God’s voice before standing
in His presence.
Recognising Gods Workmanship
Thomas' Account:
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my
hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
Thomas said to him, “My Lord
and my God!” John 20:27-28
We are provided with miracles
yet we still say statements like “I don’t believe it”, “How could this be”, “It
won’t last” “Something bad is bound to happen” Sometimes a touch of God is not
good enough, we find it difficult to believe in the power of a miracle, we
think our blessings will be rob if we “jinx” it and we need to touch wood if we
speak something bad over our lives or the lives of others. A touch of God is
greater than being strangled by hopelessness, God gave us everything so why
would he take away anything, Jesus’ life was laid down so that we could rise
up.
Jesus poses this question "I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?" John 3:12
At the end of John Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves Him, Peter replied yes consecutively. Then Jesus instructs Peter to feed his sheep. In order to feed the sheep of Jesus, Peter needs to recognise who the Shepard is so that he can take on a similar role. As disciples we are called to bear witness to Christ, a witness gains knowledge from observation or experience. The more observant we become of Christ in our daily lives the better we fulfill our God given roles. When Jesus comes again, may it be tomorrow or in a thousand years from now, I want to be able to recognise Him without a doubt… do you?
