To be fully HUMAN — A Daily Reflection

 

 

Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel ."

 

The moment Jesus spoke to him, Nathanael knew who He was.  He said, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel ."  He immediately recognized Jesus for who He was.

 

How many of us can say that?  How many of us responded the first time the Lord spoke to us?  I didn’t.  I was 30 years old before the Lord got my attention!  As I look back, I can only recall one time He tried to speak to me before the time that finally got my attention.  If He did speak to me, I didn’t listen.  I certainly didn’t recognize Him. As I said yesterday, there were only two people in all that time that actually showed me Jesus by letting Him shine through them.  The problem was, I was looking for another “Jesus” – one that was more my “size”, one that I could put in a “Jesus box” and keep him there where I could “control” him.  The real Jesus finally got my attention, though, and I recognized Him for who He is on August 12, 1977 – sitting in the middle of my bed surrounded by information and materials that helped me to see exactly who He is, and to instantly love Him for that reason.  I finally saw myself for the lost sinner that I was and realized that the only way to heaven was not through all those “good works” I’d been doing all those years, trying vainly to make myself “worthy” of heaven, but instead, the only way to heaven was through faith in Jesus and His gift of eternal life bought with a terrible price on the cross. 

 

How long did it take you to recognize Jesus?  Or have you recognized Him yet?  Has He spoken to you time after time, only to be met with a closed door?  Is He standing there waiting, knowing how much He could do for you in your life if you’d only open the door and invite Him in?  Do you realize just how much you’re missing by delaying opening that door?

 

If you claim to know Him, do you really know who He is?  Is He real to you?  How well do you know Him?  Is your relationship with him as real, personal and intimate as it is with your spouse, your children, your family, your friends?  Do you spend as much time with Him as you do with your television set?  When things go wrong, when you need to make a decision, when you just need someone to talk to… where do you turn?  Do you go first to your friends or your family, or do you turn first to Him?  Whose advice is more dependable?  Whose help is more constant?  Whose love is more unconditional?

 

"He who has ears to hear, let him hear."  Matthew 11:15 NIV